


Little Witch Academia: A Wizardly Beginning

by Phoenix_of_Dusk



Series: Little Wizard Academia (LWA/HP) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Little Witch Academia
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:08:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27281698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phoenix_of_Dusk/pseuds/Phoenix_of_Dusk
Summary: *Little Witch Academia belongs to Studio Trigger and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling**This is a Non-Canon, Fan-Made, Crossover. I highly suggest you watch the entirety of Little Witch Academia and watch/read Harry Potter years 1-8, just to understand the story.**Keep in mind that any details that are missed from either property are either intentionally missed for the sake of ease of storytelling or Omitted due to not having any relevance in the story.*After an unfortunate accident at Luna Nova, Akko and her friends have chosen to travel to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to learn about magic in a whole new way, and maybe Akko will have an easier time at Hogwarts, but will everyone else be able to adjust, only time will tell.
Series: Little Wizard Academia (LWA/HP) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991935
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue: Simple Curiosity

In the St. Michael Alignment of West England, stood the Luna Nova Magical Academy, where young, aspiring witches strengthen their magical abilities and become true witches. At least that is what I would say if not for the fact that the school was completely destroyed, thanks to a curious student. That student....is not named Atsuko Kagari, but rather...Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger (Man that’s a mouth full). 

She was working on an experimental machine that would become the greatest thing she had created, something that would improve the magic efficiency of wands...if only she had remembered one of the most basic rules of chemistry, “Hydrogen Gas + Heat = BOOM!”. 

Thankfully no one was killed, but some students were seriously injured, but they got the medical attention they needed. As for the one who caused it...well.

"Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger! How could you do something so careless?!” Professor Finnelan screamed.

“When the school is rebuilt in...well when it's rebuilt, we will be confiscating all of your belongings and will be making sure you never do this again. Why? You will be under close surveillance and will not be allowed to use magic outside of class.” 

Constanze just stood there feeling guilty, but tanking Finnelan’s scolding, she knew that expulsion would be imminent if she spoke up. Finnelan finished scolding her, which allowed the headmistress to have a small talk with the student that destroyed the school and nearly killed some students. 

“Now, dearie, I’m going to give you a simple choice” Constanze nodded,

“You can either stay and help clean your mess, which needless to say will take a while, leave the school and never be accepted back...” that second choice, understandably, made her seize up in fear, “OR...I can have someone help you into another magic school in Scotland, it’s pretty different from Luna Nova...but you might like it. So what will it be?” 

Constanze, looked in surprise, another school? And one that wasn’t far from Luna Nova? 

She had Stanbot speak for her, “Can I have some time to think it over?” 

The Headmistress nodded “Of course, no rush. Just let me know when you’ve made your choice.”

Not far from where the school once was, Akko and her friends Sucy, Lotte, Diana, Amanda, and Jasminka, all of whom were just as shaken from the explosion, well not Sucy, but they were more scared for Constanze, they thought she would be expelled for sure, but hoped otherwise. They saw Constanze approach them, Stanbot at her side, not with sadness on her face, but with a look of deep thought. 

Akko was the first to speak up, 

“Hey Constanze, you ok?” She got no answer. 

Amanda knew when she was in deep thought, she had something big on her mind, what it was, she was going to find out. 

“Whatcha thinking about there Constanze? Something the head told you?” 

Constanze looked up and said, “I’ve been given a choice.” 

Constanze had grown comfortable speaking to her friends as opposed to having Stanbot speak for her. Though she will occasionally give a silent gesture whenever she was giving a simple answer. 

“I can stay and help clean up the damage I caused, leave Luna Nova and never come back…” 

All of them (except Sucy) looked in horror when she said that, hoping the last option isn’t as bad, 

“Or I can go to another magic school in Scotland...that last option sounds pretty tempting, but I don’t know if I can handle doing it alone.”

Akko, catching the hint, said, “Then we’ll go with you! It sounds like fun.” 

Everyone was conflicted about the thought of going to another school, but at the same time, some of them had no place to go or their homes were too far. They discussed it for a little while and they agreed to all go to the new school, at least until Luna Nova was rebuilt. On the bright side, they could see some new sights and possibly learn some new magic.

Constanze asked the Headmistress if she could bring her friends, she agreed, saying that she had already planned to send them anyway. They made their way to their dorms, or rather what was left of them, seeing how a good bit of the dorms were destroyed and packed what they could find. 

Just as they met up with the Headmistress, the person who she was referring to arrived. He was in his mid-30’s, with mid-length brown-silver hair, dark brown eyes, and a fairly medium build. On his face was a deep looking scar that was slightly faded but not enough to be unnoticeable. He was wearing a long hooded robe, gray dress shirt which wasn’t completely buttoned up, long, baggy black pants, and brown loafers. 

“Ah, you’re early.” said the Headmistress.

“True, but I heard what happened and decided to switch from broom travel to apperation. So, who are the lucky witches that will be coming with me?” 

The group stepped forward and Akko said, ”That would be us.”

“Ok, great.” He walked forward and raised his hand for a handshake, “I’m Phoenix, Phoenix Kingston” 

Akko shook his hand with a smile on her face, “I’m Atsuko Kagari, but you can call me Akko, these are my friends Lotte, Sucy, Constanze, Amanda, Diana and... wait, where’s Jasminka?” 

They all looked around and saw that Jasminka was gone until the sound of munching caught their attention, looking up they noticed that she was eating what appeared to be a frog made of chocolate. 

“Hmm, I was wondering where that thing had hopped off to, looks like Jasminka already likes Wizard world sweets. Now, let’s get going, we need to get the supplies you’ll need for your new school.” 

As Phoenix and the girls made their way to the Layline tower, they realized that they had forgotten their brooms. But Phoenix already had a plan, in the form of a broom of his own, but it looked different. 

“Alright, seeing how it’ll take a while to get to Charing Cross Road on foot or by broom, we’ll just have to use my Portkey. Everyone grab on and hold on tight to both it and your stuff.” 

They were confused at first but followed along anyway. As soon as they had all gripped the broom, they were quickly sucked into one point and disappeared, taking the broom with them. 

They quickly reappeared in an alleyway, the girls quite shaken. 

“And that, my good witches, is called Apparition, similar to teleportation only loads more fun. Now, let’s get moving.” 

Akko walked up and asked, “What is this magic school called anyway?” 

Phoenix turned to Akko and answered with, “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”

Back at Luna Nova, Professor Ursula had noticed that Akko and her friends were absent from the student attendance. She asked the head if she knew where they were, 

“Why they’re on their way to a magic school in Scotland, they left not long ago. If you want to find them, they should be in London, Great Britain, you’d better hurry though, once they enter, you probably won’t be able to follow them.” 

Ursula, made her way to the Layline Tower, broom in hand, and quickly flew to the location she got from the Headmistress.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Diagon Alley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we arrive where the story really starts, Diagon Alley.
> 
> Time for what most muggle kids would dread, but wizard and witch kids kinda look forward to, School supply shopping.
> 
> Research has been done to confirm what first-year students need for school and what stores they are bought.
> 
> If I somehow missed something, feel free to let me know and I'll try to fix it.

***Charing Cross Road, London, Great Britain***

Phoenix and the girls made their way down the streets of London and stopped at the door of the Leaky Cauldron Pub and Inn. 

“So...is this where the magic starts?” Akko asked confused, she looked at the pub’s sign and remembered that cauldrons are usually associated with witches, but she was willing to extend her beliefs. 

“Not quite, we’ll need to lighten your load, you’re going to need both hands to carry everything for Hogwarts. I’ll get a few rooms in the Inn, hopefully, they’ll have enough so I won’t have to share with any of you.” 

The girls looked at him in anger taking offence to that statement, 

“I mean so you can have privacy, don’t get mad, blimey.” 

After their expressions softened, Diana asked, “So how does magic work in this ‘Wizard World’?” 

She knew that magic back at Luna Nova came from the Philosopher's Stone, but with magic being so relevant in this new world, according to what she heard from the Headmistress, she was curious as to what powers it. 

“You’ll find out very soon, trust me”. 

They walked through the entrance and saw how crowded it was, people were sitting, eating, talking, and just having a good time, and all the while, the owner of the place, Tom, was serving people, laughing alongside his patrons. 

Tom noticed them enter and spoke up, “Ah, Phoenix, need a room?” 

“I’m going to need a few rooms actually Tom, I’ve got some friends who need some supplies for Hogwarts.” 

Tom moved his glance to the group of girls, Lotte gave a small wave and softly said, “Hi, Sir.” 

Tom nodded and said, “Ok, how many rooms exactly?” 

Phoenix turned to the girls and saw that they had already grouped up, Akko with Diana, Lotte with Sucy, and Amanda with both Constanze and Jasminka. “Heh, 4 rooms please.” 

Tom nodded and smiled, “Lucky for you, I have 4 rooms very close to each other, and recently cleaned, follow me.”

They made their way up to their rooms and set their stuff down, “Ok, so, get something else on, and meet me downstairs. We need to get your supplies before it gets too crowded.”

***Akko’s View***

I glanced around the room we were put in, it was pretty big and there were two beds and a writing desk. I sat down on the bed near the window in our room, it was nice, not stiff like Luna Nova’s dorm beds, but there was a bit of a creak coming from the bed whenever I moved, but it’s fine. 

“So, may I ask why you chose me to be your roommate? I would have thought you would choose Lotte or Sucy.” Diana said after closing the door, 

“Well, I thought you and I could learn about this new magic together, it's probably a good idea to help each other seeing how we spent most of our time at Luna Nova.” I said, slightly hesitant.

That wasn’t the only reason, I had also gotten pretty close to Diana in the past few months after saving the world...after the Shiny Rod disappeared. I learned that Diana was also a fan of Shiny Chariot, and it was thanks to her I discovered one of the 7 Words of Arcturus and helped me save the world. I felt something more than friendship, but I could never admit it. 

Diana responded with a smile, “Fair enough, I think it sounds like a good idea too.” 

But our chat would be cut short by the sound of a low growling coming from under Diana’s bed. I lifted the sheet from the side of the bed and looked under, what I saw was a furry book with teeth, I grabbed it and unlocked the bindings, but I would soon regret this decision as the book started rapidly snapping at me, I dropped it and it followed me around the room, Diana pulled out her wand and attempted to cast a spell but remembered that she had no magic. 

Phoenix heard the commotion and ran in, I saw him pull out some sort of carved stick and say, “Petrificus Totalus.” The book froze in place with its mouth closed, I grabbed it and put the bindings back on. 

“Monster Book of Monsters, I’d be careful, it can bite back. But if you’re interested in reading it, just stroke the spine to calm it down.” 

Diana looked at me in disbelief, a living book, I thought it was amazing, but I could see Diana was a bit scared of it, keeping her legs off the floor.

***10 Minutes Later***

Everyone had changed into some casual clothes and had met downstairs. 

“Ok, everyone here? Good. Follow me, I wanna show you something.” 

They made their way to what looked like a back alley, with enough room for all of them. 

“Well, this is it.” Phoenix said facing a brick wall, 

Sucy looked up and said, “it’s just a brick wall, what’s so magical about that?” 

Phoenix raised his wand and tapped a few bricks in a particular order. Before anyone could say anything, the bricks started moving, making an opening, all the girls, even Sucy, were both shocked and amazed. 

Phoenix turned and said, “Welcome Girls, to Diagon Alley.”

They started walking, the girls taking in the many shops and people walking through, Sucy saw a potion shop, Amanda spotted a broom shop, and Diana saw a person selling special feather quills. 

“Ok, first things first, we need to stop by the bank to get the money for your school supplies.” 

“Wait, but we have money,” Lotte said. 

“Well, bad news for you, that money isn’t worth anything here, but don’t worry I’ve got plenty of money to spare.” 

Constanze spoke up, “Isn’t there some way to exchange our money?” 

“‘Fraid not.” 

They walked for a good 5 minutes, and stopped right in front of a large, white building, 

“Ah...Gringotts, the Wizard Bank, probably the most secure place known to Wizards and Witches, (unless you’re the main character, *CoughMovie8Cough*)”. 

When they walked in they noticed all the goblins at work, stamping and filling out documents, 

“Uh...Phoenix...why are there so many goblins in here?” Amanda asked with a bit of fear in her voice, 

“It’s because they own the place, they love being around treasures and money, so they opened a bank.” 

As they reached the end of the line of desks, Phoenix got the attention of the head Goblin, asking to enter his vault to make a withdrawal. He proceeded to hand over his key and the goblin got down from his chair. They made their way to his vault, on what the girls would describe as a hazardous rollercoaster. Once the vault door opened, all the girls looked in awe at the amount of money he had in his vault, stacks upon stacks of coins, 

“This is the result of 5 solid years of hard work.” Phoenix exclaimed, grabbing a couple of small bags of different coins.

After getting the money they needed, they made their way out of Gringotts, Diana, understandably asked, “So the currency in this world, how does it work?” 

“There are 3 types of coins, bronze Knuts, silver Sickles, and golden Galleons. 29 Knuts make up one Sickle, and there are 17 Sickles in a Galleon. Yes, it's weird, but that’s how it's structured. Does that answer your question?” 

Diana nodded while taking note of that, as did Akko and Lotte, the others made mental notes. 

“Now the first thing we’ll need to get is your wands, seeing how your old ones won’t work here. And I might as well teach you how magic in this world works.” 

They made their way to the best wand shop Phoenix knew, Ollivanders Wand Shop, owned by Garrick Ollivander. 

“So, wands don’t need a power source, and all look different?” Lotte asked, 

“Yep, no need for a Philosopher Stone and every wand is created differently, no two wands are the same.” 

They arrived at the front of Ollivanders Wand Shop, “Here we are, now keep this in mind when going in, the wand chooses its master, not the other way around. I just hope none of you get any wands that may have a negative connection.”

**END OF CHAPTER**


	3. Chapter 2: Old Magic and New Witches

As they walked through the door of the wand shop, they saw shelves upon shelves of long, thin boxes, all of which were categorized in some way. 

“Someone made all of these?” Amanda asked, sounding amazed. 

“Yep, all of them were made by one person. If not most of them. Speaking of which...” Phoenix walked forward looking around, “Mr. Ollivander?!” 

Just as his name was called, he slid to the front on a ladder, scaring everyone except Phoenix, he was a man of over 100 years, and he looked like he had a lot of knowledge. 

“Ah...I see you’ve brought some new witches looking for some new wands, Am I correct?” Ollivander asked with a slight smile, 

“You are correct Mr. Ollivander, girls, this is Garrick Ollivander, the owner of the shop and the one who made these wands.” 

Ollivander walked up to the girls and took a good look at them, muttering to himself as he did so. Lotte was slightly uncomfortable. 

“Uh, why are you looking at us like that?” 

“He’s simply analyzing you, to see what wands may work for you. It’s how wand makers find wands for their customers, narrowing the options down to a wand that might choose them.”

Lotte, still a bit unsure, nodded in understanding.

After Ollivander finished his observation of the group, he asked the obvious question, “Who wishes to get their wand first?” 

But before anyone could say anything, someone came bursting through the door, someone who seemed quite out of breath. 

It was, “Professor Ursula?” Diana said in confusion, 

“Actually...you can call me Chariot...we’re not at Luna Nova...anymore.” Chariot said, still catching her breath. 

Phoenix stepped forward, looking a bit angry and said, “How did you get here? Only wizards and witches from this world can open the gate.” 

Chariot looked up, “Uh, you left the doorway open.” 

Phoenix’s expression went from angry to shocked, and then proceeded to facepalm, “Tom is going to kill me. Whatever, I guess you came here to join us?” 

Chariot stood up and nodded, she explained that she managed to slip away from the other professors, she wanted to not only help Akko and the others, but she also wanted to see Hogwarts, maybe learn something. 

“Hmm, well I guess since you’re so interested…” Phoenix grabbed her arm and pulled her to the front, “She’s first.” 

Ollivander looked at her and started walking toward a pile of boxes, he pulled one out and took out the wand that was inside. 

“Try this...” he handed the wand to Chariot who was still slightly surprised, being put on the spot. The wand was a 12 ¾ inch, cherry wood wand with a Jackalope antler core, she just stood there not knowing what to do. 

Phoenix nudged her saying, “What are you waiting for, give it a wave.” 

Chariot did so, flicking the wand toward a light, causing it to explode, scaring everyone, “Definitely not” Ollivander said calmly, taking the wand back. 

Chariot looked to Phoenix in shock, “Does this usually happen?” 

“Yeah, finding wands for new wizards and witches is a bit of a ‘trial and error’ process.” Phoenix said looking scared that the damage might get worse.

He pulled out another and handed it to Chariot, this one was a 14-inch, Hawthorn wand, with a Thunderbird tail feather core. When she had the wand in her grip it felt perfect, she gave it a wave toward the broken light, repairing it almost instantly. 

“That would be the one for you,” Ollivander said. 

Chariot looked at her new wand with a smile, “This feels, almost like it was made for me.” 

“That’s what it usually feels like for new people, and just as I said to the girls, the wand chooses the wizard, and that wand has chosen you.” 

Chariot was about to reach into her pocket to pay for her wand, but Phoenix stopped her, “Uh, let me get all the wands, what is in your pocket won’t suffice.” Chariot nodded.

The other girls got their wands in more or less the same way, some causing more damage than others, but in the end, they all got their wands. 

Akko got a 13-inch, Blackthorn wand, with a Phoenix feather core, Diana got a 13-inch, Mahogany wand, with a Unicorn tail hair core, Lotte, a 12-inch, Chestnut with Veela Hair, Sucy, a 13 ¾ inch, Laurel with Dittany stalk, Amanda, a 11 ¼ inch, English oak, with White River Monster Spine, Jasminka, a 10-inch, Pear, with Kneazle whisker, and Constanze with a 10 ½ inch, Walnut, with Rougarou hair. 

Phoenix paid for the wands and they headed out to get the next thing on their list...robes. 

“So, what kind of wand do you have Phoenix?” Akko asked, 

“Well, I’ve got a 13 ¼ inch, Mahogany wand with a Horned Serpent horn core. Quite rare.” Akko looked in amazement, 

“But don’t forget, your wand has a Phoenix feather, those are just as, if not rarer.” Akko looked at the box her wand came in and smiled. 

“So, I’m guessing we’ll be needing new robes, and we won’t be able to wear anything else?” Diana asked. 

“Well, you’ll need to wear the robes when you’re in class and at most school events, but in your free time, you're free to wear just about anything, as long as it’s not too revealing or offensive.” 

Amanda definitely was cool with that, as Phoenix saw her smile and fist pump in the corner of his eye. 

They made their way to ‘Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions’, they had almost no problems getting their robes and other clothing...if not for Jasminka’s constant eating making getting her robes a bit difficult. But they still, with some convincing, got her to stop eating, at least temporarily. 

Next was books, so they went to ‘Flourish and Blotts’, they, thankfully had no problems getting the books, but Akko and Diana were slightly paranoid that they might see another monster book, but Phoenix reassured them. They picked up the books that Phoenix had listed, including  _ The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 _ , _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ and  _ The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. _

The last few things they needed were cauldrons, vials, an animal, and other miscellaneous things. Phoenix saved the animal of last. They made their way to Potage's Cauldron Shop, Sucy was the most excited for this, seeing how she was more into potion making. They got their cauldrons and vials from there, Phoenix joking about just leaving Sucy there to enjoy herself, but Sucy, reluctantly went with them to get the rest of the things on their list, stopping at another shop to get their brass scales and small telescopes.

“Ok, so there’s one last thing, you have a choice between an owl, cat or toad, what will it be?” 

They talked about it for a bit, they originally thought cat, but Phoenix explained that Owls are usually good pets and are used for sending and receiving mail, so they all went with owls. 

Once they got to Eeylops Owl Emporium, they immediately were bombarded by owls, they had all escaped their cages, the person running the place explained that someone used a spell to unlock their cages as a joke, Phoenix pulled out his wand and yelled “Immobulus!” And all the owls froze in the air, which confused them at first, but calmed them down after a bit. 

After the owner apologized and thanked them for the help, they looked at the owls to see which ones they liked. Akko and Diana both chose a Snowy Owl, Sucy chose a Screech owl, Lotte and Constanze chose Tawny Owl, Amanda chose a Barn owl, Jasminka chose a Barred Owl, and Chariot chose a Brown Owl. 

Everyone, except, Sucy, had already started bonding with their Owls, Sucy on the other hand, well, she did choose a Screech owl.

After they got everything back to their rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, Chariot decided to room with Phoenix seeing how all the other rooms were full. She was concerned about attending classes but Phoenix gave her an offer, she can attend normal classes, and he can give her private classes to get her ahead of the others, but in order for that to happen, she’d need to promise to stay totally focused on her studies when she has work to do, and he’d give her plenty of free time to help Akko and the others and time to relax. 

She thought it would allow her to be helpful and allow her to be on top of things, but she felt it would be weird for her to attend class...when she’s already an adult. Phoenix already had that covered, in the form of a very strong and specially made Polyjuice Potion that he had purchased, it would allow her to become younger for a period of time. She would have to take it at the halfway point of her classes, but it wouldn’t cause any permanent changes to her body. 

She asked for time to think about it, wanting to consider how it would work, Phoenix nodded in understanding and left to check on the others. 

“Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t have told her about the Polyjuice...I shouldn’t worry about it. She was a powerful witch, still is now that I think about it.” 

He knocked on the door to Akko and Diana’s room and the door fell off its hinges, what did he see inside? The room nearly destroyed, the monster book scurrying around the floor, and Diana on the floor, frozen in a scared pose. 

Phoenix slapped his face, “Ok, where’s Akko? This has to be her doing.” 

“I’m up here,” Akko said, he looked up and saw Akko floating, upside down, hanging by her feet. 

Phoenix slapped his face again, “Let me guess, you tried to use your wand on the book, and you tried to use the spells you learned from Luna Nova? Right?” 

“Uh...maybe?” Phoenix looked at her with a raised brow, “Ok, yeah I did.” 

He sighed, while pulling his wand out, and undid all the damage, unfroze Diana and put the book back on the shelf. 

“Let me make this perfectly clear, spells from Luna Nova will not work properly in the Wizarding World, I will teach you a few spells on the train. I know you’re excited Akko, but you need to calm down a little. Dinner is in 30 minutes, so get your stuff packed and word of warning, don’t put your wand in your back pocket.” 

After Phoenix left, Akko apologized to Diana for accidentally freezing her, Diana was still a bit disappointed in Akko but she knew Akko meant no harm. 

“You know Diana, I’m starting to have second thoughts, maybe I’m not cut out for this kind of magic.” 

Diana saw that look of sorrow and doubt in her eyes, “Don’t say that, you’ve done things that are beyond amazing, you are most certainly cut for this, you just have to believe in yourself, remember what Shiny Chariot always said, believing in yourself is your magic.” 

Akko looked at Diana in surprise, she saw a look of determination Diana always had and couldn’t help smiling, “You’re right, I just need to think positive, while at the same time making sure not to go too far.” 

Diana and Akko got up and Diana hugged Akko close, “That’s what I wanted to hear.” 

Akko hugged her back, and quickly whispered “I love you”, 

“What was that Akko?” 

“Nothing.”

As everyone ate dinner, Lotte had been reading up on how to take care of an Owl, Sucy was reading up on Wizard World potion making, Amanda had discovered a book on Broom riding, and Chariot had already started reading up on first-year magic. Everyone still had some questions but they all chose to save them for the train ride to Hogwarts. 

Well, almost everyone, Lotte asked, “Hey, Phoenix, why did you say you hoped none of us would get any wands that may have a negative connection?” 

Phoenix looked in slight fear and anger, “Well, let’s just say, some wands have connections, most of the time it's due to wands being made from the same tree, other times, it's because some wands are made with the same core materials. There are times where one wand is used by a normal wizard or witch, and the other is used for dark purposes, this has caused many problems for people. Thankfully it’s not common, but there is still a chance.” 

“Oh...well I guess we’re lucky...right?” Lotte said trying to change the subject to something less grim, 

“Yeah, from what I’ve heard, you girls have done some pretty amazing things. Things that I wish I could have seen myself” Phoenix said gladly changing the subject. 

After finishing dinner, Phoenix told everyone, “Be ready to go by 10 tomorrow morning, we can’t miss the train, also, have your wands out and ready to use, I wanna teach you a few things on the ride there.” 

Everyone said goodnight to each other and they slept the night away, except for Diana. She was also having second thoughts about going to Hogwarts, but her talk with Akko made her feel a bit better, not to mention she had a secret of her own. She secretly had strong feelings for Akko, after she showed her the true power of magic and after she and Akko stopped that magic missile, she felt something she hadn’t felt since her mother passed. She didn’t know how to tell Akko, she didn’t know how Akko would react if she told her. But she knew one thing, going to Hogwarts would mean an almost fresh start, a chance to start over, but for now, she needed to rest, the fresh start started tomorrow.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	4. Chapter 3: Onward to Hogwarts

***The Next Morning***

The girls woke up to the sunshine shining into their rooms, Lotte and Sucy were chatting with each other, excited about the new school. Sucy was looking forward to what Potions class would be like, Lotte was wondering what kind of spirits she would encounter, and both...well, wondering if they would learn magic at a similar pace as Luna Nova. The whole group finished packing and made their way down to the main area of the Leaky Cauldron, with their bags by their sides, some were taking care of their owls, some were reading, others were just chatting. 

Phoenix stepped forward and clapped his hands together, “Ok, everyone all packed? Good, now then, allow me to make this easier.” 

He pulled out a large trunk and his wand, he waved his wand in a pattern and said “Wingardium Leviosa”, and everyone’s things levitated up into the air and toward the open trunk. 

But before anything went in he asked, “Before I pack this up till we get to the station, anyone want to keep something on them?” 

Lotte asked for her lantern with her fire spirit in it, Sucy asked for her potion book, and Chariot asked to keep her owl on her. All of them had their wands on them so Phoenix could teach them on the train. After everyone got what they asked for, Phoenix finished what he started and moved all of their things into the large trunk, which didn’t look like it could fit all their things. 

But it worked, the trunk closed without issue, leaving everyone speechless, “Undetectable extension charm...you girls don’t have anything like that? Shame, it’s quite useful.”

***20 minutes later at King’s Cross Station***

The group arrived at King’s Cross and Phoenix had handed back everyone’s things and each of them had gotten a trolley. They made their way down to platforms 9 and 10, walking down the platform while Phoenix counted the pillars, stopping at pillar 11. 

“Ah, ok, here we are.” 

Everyone looked around and saw nothing, “Uh...where?” Amanda asked, 

“Is there a hidden Layline somewhere?” Akko asked. 

“Nope, the gateway to platform 9 ¾ is right through here.” He said while gesturing toward the wall, “All ya gotta do is run straight at that wall, and you’ll be there.” 

They all looked at Phoenix in disbelief, “Uh...you’re kidding, right?” Akko asked in concern. 

But Amanda knew he would never lie about this so she volunteered to go first, “Ok, so I just run at the wall, what do I do after that?” 

“Well, you’ll know when you’re across, just step to the side and wait for the rest of us.” Amanda nodded and readied herself, she ran at the wall and shut her eyes. 

When she reached the wall, she phased right through, leaving everyone but Phoenix in a state of shock. 

“Now, who’s next, we got about 10 minutes to get on the train so let's choose fast.” 

Jasminka stepped up and ran forward, followed by Constanze and Sucy, Lotte took a minute to ready herself and ran toward the wall and successfully phased through. Akko and Diana went through together, unknowingly holding each other’s hand. 

Chariot was the only one left, she had a look of fear and concern on her face, Phoenix noticed this and knew what he had to do. 

“Chariot, we can go together if that will make you feel better.” Chariot nodded, 

Phoenix put his hand on her shoulder, and they both ran toward the wall and made it though. 

When they made it through, Phoenix removed his hand and said, “See, easy.” 

They walked forward and met up with the others, who were in awe at the experience they went through, Phoenix explained that they just need to get whatever they want to take with them into the train, everything else will be waiting for them at Hogwarts.

They made their way onto the train and separated into two groups, Akko, Diana, Lotte, and Sucy in one group and Amanda, Jasminka, Constanze and Chariot in another. Constanze had made a device that would allow Phoenix to teach both groups at the same time without having to change cabins or repeat a lesson. 

“Alright, let’s get started, everyone’s wand at the ready?” Everyone nodded, “Excellent, let’s start with something simple, levitation.” 

Phoenix popped a table out on both sides and asked everyone to place something light in front of them. Most just placed a feather that Lotte’s owl, Orion, and Chariot’s owl, Aurora, had pulled off themselves, Jasminka just put a chip in front of her. 

“Now the incantation for this spell is Wingardium Leviosa, you also need to move your wand in a swish and flick motion like so.” 

After Phoenix demonstrated, the others tried it, Akko, Diana, and Chariot had no problem doing it, Lotte and Constanze had some trouble but pulled it off, Amanda and Sucy were still trying, and Jasminka...just stared at the chip, drooling a bit. 

“Next, unlocking, just in case you girls accidentally lock yourself out of a diary or something, just promise not to use it to snoop around.” 

Amanda was tempted but resisted for the sake of not getting more than herself in trouble. 

“The incantation for this is, Alohomora.” They all tested it on the cabin door, and all succeeded. 

“Good, this may be easier than I thought.” 

They continued to practice spells, learning Diffindo, for cutting things (don’t take that out of context), Reparo, for repairing objects, Depulso, the banishing charm, Colloportus, for locking things, Lumos, for lighting up the ends of their wands, and Nox, the literal off switch for Lumos.

After a good hour of learning new magic, Phoenix gave everyone a break to rest and just chat, but they would get more than that when an old woman with a trolley full of sweets came by. 

“Anything off the trolley dears?” the woman asked, 

“Yeah, 9 of everything, you girls are going to love these.” 

After giving everyone 1 of every sweet on that trolley, they started tasting their wizard sweets. 

“Uh...Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?” Constanze asked in confusion, 

“Yep, and they mean ‘every flavour’, like pear and bubble gum, but there’s also, spinach, pepper, and dirt. Trust me, if you have a sensitive palate, don’t bother eating those, the gamble is not worth it.” 

Constanze was still curious and opened the box anyway. She pulled out a green bean thinking it may be pear flavoured...it wasn’t. 

“Urk...is this...grass?” She said with a face of disgust. 

“Probably.” 

Lotte picked up a pentagon shaped box with the text, “Chocolate Frog? These...aren’t real frogs, are they?” 

“Nope, it's just a frog shaped chocolate, though they do have a couple of surprises in each pack. Each one comes with a Famous Witch or Wizard card, I managed to get all of them a few months ago, the other one…” 

Lotte opened the pack and to her surprise, the Chocolate Frog was alive. It tried to jump away, but Sucy caught it before it could get away. 

“Yep, that would be it. Don’t worry, if one does get away, the card is more than worth it, at least in my opinion.” 

Lotte was hesitant to eat the frog, but after Sucy convinced her that it wasn’t a full living creature, just a hunk of chocolate that moves, she ate it, and liked it, not fully enjoyed it, but liked it.

While everyone was just enjoying their sweets and chatting, and Jasminka was almost inhaling her sweets, Diana and Akko were talking about aspects that they thought might be different at Hogwarts, 

“Phoenix said there’s no Philosopher Stone, right? So how does flying work?” Akko asked, 

“Maybe the brooms just work on their own, maybe the brooms are connected to our wands, who knows?” 

They continued to speculate for a good 20 minutes until Phoenix noticed that they were looking like they were getting really deep in their speculation, and he heard them talking about how magic would work if they were away from the school. 

“To answer your question, yes magic works outside of the wizarding world, but I’d keep the use of magic in the Muggle world to a minimum.” 

Everyone stopped when he said that, one word in that sentence caught their attention. 

Chariot spoke up, “What’s a Muggle?” 

“It’s what people in this world call non-magic folk.” 

“Is it like a racial slur?” 

“No, but there is one for people who have magical heritage, but no magic power. They’re called...squibs.” 

They all looked at each other in surprise, 

“Please, for the love of god, never say that word.” They nodded and pretended they didn’t even hear it. 

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Diana spoke up asking, “What would someone with no magic heritage but has magic power be called?” 

Phoenix took a second before answering, “There are actually two names, Muggle-born and...Mud-Blood.” 

The latter name left everyone with looks of shock on their faces, 

“Mudblood? That’s horrible!” Diana responded, 

“True, but there are still people who use that term, mostly by mistake, but others use it because they see themselves as superior to them. They call themselves Pure-Blood because they have full magic heritage. And people who have half magic heritage are Half-Blood, not as bad, some people embrace being half-blood.” 

They all looked at each other, some were wondering where they would fall, but Akko knew where she fell, her family was normal, not magical, but she had magical talents. She got up and walked out, 

“Sorry, I just need some air.” 

Diana took a minute to think, she was concerned about Akko and why she seemed a bit, different. Until it hit her, she walked out as well, “I’ll check on Akko.” 

Phoenix put his head against the seat, “I was afraid this would happen, I knew this would happen if I opened my mouth on this subject.” 

“Where do you fall on the spectrum Phoenix, if you don’t mind me asking.” Chariot asked. 

“I’m Half-blood, my mother was a witch and my father was a muggle-born wizard.” Chariot was surprised but understood nonetheless. 

***Diana’s View***

I ran out of the cabin to search for Akko, I soon found her in the corner of the train car, curled up and shaking. I didn’t hear any crying, but I still approached her gently and with little resistance. 

“Akko?” 

“Please, leave me alone.” 

I sat next to her and slowly reached for her hand, “Akko, please talk to me. I know what you’re thinking, don’t let what Phoenix said get to you.” 

Akko looked at me with a look of sadness and disappointment, “Diana, I’m a Mudblood, I’m a joke, I’m…” 

I grabbed her head, giving her a look of reassurance, “Stop, don’t talk like that, you are amazing. Did you forget what I told you the other day?” 

Akko pulled her head away, I noticed that she was starting to doubt herself again, 

“But, I wasn’t the only one, I had help, you helped me, I’m not the only one who did those amazing things.” 

When I heard that, my heart dropped, she was right. 

“Akko… I know you had help, but you were the only one that knew what to do, you just needed help to execute your plan. You knew what to do when the Jennifer Memorial Tree was covered in those Pappiliodya chrysalises, you were the one who used the Shiny Rod to release the curse on the princess who had swallowed a seed of sorrow, and you were the one who never gave up when your friends were in danger. Without you, the tree would have been destroyed, the princess would still be cursed, and your friends may not be here.” 

Akko turned back toward me and looked at me with tears in her eyes, 

“Diana…” She hugged me tight and cried into my shoulder, 

“It’s ok Akko, you just needed someone to speak your mind to. I’m here for you.” 

I stroked her hair to comfort her, she calmed down after about 5 minutes, after we separated from our hug, I instinctively kissed Akko on the forehead, leaving her blushing, I started blushing after I realized what I did. 

“I-I’m sorry, I was…” I stuttered trying to explain, but Akko just stopped me, 

“It’s ok Diana, it helped me feel better.” Both of us smiled, as we made our way back to the cabin.

Little did they know, Phoenix had heard the whole thing, he knew that there was going to be some emotional problems, but what he was counting on was them helping each other. He made his way back to the cabin before them and informed everyone that they were going to be ok. 

After 30 minutes, everyone had calmed down and had gone back to having some harmless fun. Phoenix and Chariot talked about his plan to get Chariot into classes, Chariot agreed to his plan on one condition, he has to teach one of the classes. He said he would try to get a teaching job, but if he fails, the private classes are still there if she’s interested. She was, but she wanted to know that there’s at least one class that he can teach to keep an eye on everyone. 

“Knowing Hogwarts, they should have an opening in Defence Against the Dark Arts, but you never know,” Phoenix said, opening a book on Charms and Jinxes.

They had been on the train for nearly 5 hours, the sky was getting dark and everyone was getting tired and hungry. Well, Jasmika was getting hungry, everyone else was just tired. 

“We should be at Hogwarts in about half an hour, you should get into your robes.” 

“But, our robes are in our bags,” Lotte said. 

Phoenix responded by opening the door and gesturing to follow him, “I’m aware of that, which is why we’re going to get them.” 

They followed him down a couple of train cars and arrived at the luggage car, they located their bags and used the magic they learned to get them, 

“Ok, good, I’m just going to step out to give you some privacy, if you have any questions...well, save them for when everyone’s dressed.” 

After a few minutes, the girls were fully dressed into their robes, 

“Hmm, these feel better than our old uniforms,” Akko said looking at herself in her new duds. 

“I sorta agree, the robe itself feels nice, but the sleeves may be a bit of an issue.” Chariot said, noticing how large the sleeves were. 

They walked out and Phoenix complimented them, “Wow, looks great, you girls will fit in perfectly.” 

Chariot was the first to react, blushing slightly, “Thanks, but I have a question. I noticed that there were a few robes hanging on their own, and they looked nothing like ours, why is that?” 

“Ah, I forgot to mention, students are sorted into 4 houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Each house has their own common room, they earn points for doing good things and lose points for causing trouble. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House Cup. There’s also the Quidditch Cup, but I’ll explain that later.” 

They looked at each other, wondering how sorting worked, “Maybe you’ll all be in the same house, who knows.” 

Amanda stepped forward and asked with a hint of sass in her voice, “So, what house were you in?” 

“Gryffindor, why do you ask, hmm?” 

Amanda stepped back in surprise, “No reason.” 

“Heh, let’s head back to our cabin, we’ll be arriving any minute now.”

Once they arrived at the train platform, they stepped off and were greeted by a large man, they looked up, most of them in fear. Constanze reached for her wand, but Phoenix stopped her, 

“Girls, I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine, Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid, these are the witches I told you about in my letter.” 

“Ah, nice to meet you girls, as Phoenix mentioned, I’m Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts.” 

Everyone had calmed down, and Akko just stared at the giant in awe, she wanted to praise him but kept it to herself. 

“Ok, let’s get to the boats, we’re right on schedule so let’s not doddle now,” Hagrid yelled to every first year. 

Phoenix walked toward Chariot with a small vile in his hand, “You’re probably going to need this, drink it before we get to that castle.” 

Chariot looked at the liquid in the vile and knew what it was. 

“Well, bottoms up.” 

She drank the whole vile, it tasted...well...horrible, but before she could say anything, she felt a sharp pain in her, everything. It felt like her bones were being crushed, her organs were being squeezed, and her skin was being torn apart. But after a minute or two, the pain stopped and she took a look at herself, she was her younger self. Her robes, somehow, shrunk along with her, and she no longer needed her glasses. 

“This is...weird, but at least I won’t stick out like a sore thumb, I hope.” 

She met up with the others and most of them looked in awe at what had become of their friend, 

“Chariot?” Akko asked staring in awe, 

“Y-yes?” 

“Why do you look so cute?” 

This not only shocked Chariot but also made Amanda, Jasmika, and Constanze question what was happening. 

“I see you took the potion already, good, it should last till you get to your common room. Let’s just hope at least 1 of you will be in the same house as her.”

**END OF CHAPTER**


	5. Chapter 4: A Magical Start

*Author disclaimer: I have done some research on what fans think which character should be in which house, however for the sake of the story, I have put certain characters in other houses. If you feel they should be in different houses, tell me*

As the first years, lead by Hagrid, made their way toward the boats that would take them to Hogwarts, Akko noticed that the boats were missing ores, she pointed this out to the others and they wondered the same, 

“Why are there no Ores? How are we going to get to the castle if we have no way of moving the boats? Paddling by hand?” 

“Nope, there’s actually a giant squid that pulls the boats to the castle, it’s pretty cool. But, don’t fall in, it has a hard time telling the difference between food and students.” Phoenix explained, leaving everyone a little scared, not of the water, but what else could be lurking in the water. 

Amanda slipped her wand out, glaring at the water, “If that thing sticks its tentacles out, I won’t hesitate.” 

With everyone sat nicely in the boats, looking around, and every student in the front of each boat holding a lantern, Hagrid tapped the side of his boat and all of them started moving. 

Once Hogwarts came into view, everyone was amazed, Akko and her friends just looked in awe, 

“It’s huge, it’s bigger than Luna Nova.” Akko whispered to herself. 

Diana noticed that the castle had more to it then Luna Nova could even dream of ever having, “I wonder how hard it must be to navigate.” 

“First time, may take some practice to memorize where certain rooms are, but I’m sure by year 3 you’ll memorize at least 85% of the castle,” Phoenix said, holding the lantern in his boat. 

“Yeah, that reminds me.” Diana said coming close to the boat Akko, Phoenix and Chariot were in, “How many years do people usually have to stay here for?” 

“Well, to clear this up right off the bat, you get summers off and you can get Christmas off if you want, but people have to come here for 7 years. But, each year gets more interesting, trust me.” 

Diana looked at the castle when she heard that she would spend 7 school years at Hogwarts. It was becoming more tempting, but she was still unsure about how classes would be structured. 

Akko was conflicted, she was excited to see what Hogwarts would be like, but spending 7 years there, that would mean forgetting about LN, then again, her idol, Chariot was going with her, so maybe the idea wouldn’t be too bad. Not to mention it would probably take at least 7 years for them to rebuild LN completely.

Once they reached the boathouse, Hagrid stopped at the bottom of the stairs and announced, “Ok, this is where Phoenix will take over from here, follow him up to the Great Hall and the Headmistress will do the rest.”

With that, Hagrid started moving the boats back into storage, and Phoenix led the first years up the steps toward that castle. It was clear that some of the students would have a hard time getting up the steps seeing how there were so many, but they were clearly excited and fought their exhaustion to get to the top. 

Once they got to the top, an old lady, who was waiting at the front doors to the castle, stepped forward. 

“I am Professor Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts, I welcome all of you. Now before you begin your time at Hogwarts, you will be sorted into 1 of 4 houses, your house will be like your family, your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking and you will lose points. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the House Cup. The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily, Phoenix, come with me, we have some things to discuss.” 

Phoenix turned to Chariot and nodded as he followed Prof. McGonagall through the doors.

***Phoenix's View***

I walked through the doors and took in the familiar sights, it had been a while since I strolled through the halls. I turned to McGonagall who had a smile on her face, I knew she was happy to see me, 

“I see you missed me, but what is it you wanted to discuss with me? You mentioned that you had something essential to tell me in your letter.” 

McGonagall nodded and stepped toward me, “You said that the girls you were going to bring to Hogwarts were from another school, you offered to take the role of DADA Professor, and you were going to take full responsibility for them.” 

I didn’t say that last part, but I was still going to take responsibility either way. 

“I will allow you to bring them, and will give you the post of DADA, on one condition.” 

“Ok, name it.” 

She gave me a look that I was all too familiar with, a look she would give to someone when she was being quite serious, 

“You will become head of Gryffindor House and will be in charge of the sorting ceremony.” 

I looked at her for a bit before answering, “Ok, deal.” 

She stepped away and nodded, “Good, now when will those girls be here?” 

“Oh, they’re already here. They’re in the group of first years.” 

McGonagall gave me a look of surprise, I never did fail to impress her. 

“Alright, well, I’ll be waiting in the Great Hall, bring the first years in.” 

“Will do.” I made my way out to the front to lead the group in.

As Phoenix stepped out, everyone was chatting, showing off or just waiting around. 

“Alright, we’re ready for you, follow me.” 

Everyone followed Phoenix through the doors and into the Great Hall where many other students were waiting and the other professors, sitting at a long table at the end of the hall. Up above them were lit candlesticks floating below a night sky. 

McGonagall stood at the podium with a list of the first-year students in her hand, she watched as the fresh faces looked around, but she knew that no school year goes by without something big happening. 

Phoenix reached the steps leading up to the Professor’s Table, gesturing for the group to wait at the bottom of the steps. 

“Wait for me to give you the OK to start, I need to say a few things first.” McGonagall whispered to Phoenix, in which he promptly nodded in understanding. 

“Welcome back to Hogwarts, before we begin, Professor McGonagall has a few words.” 

McGonagall got up and began speaking, “I’d like to inform all first years, that the dark forest surrounding the grounds is forbidden to all students, also, any areas marked with an Auror symbol are off-limits to students unless authorized, and an announcement to all students, I’d like to welcome Professor Phoenix Kingston, who will be taking the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts and Head of Gryffindor house, I hope you will wish him good luck.” 

Phoenix faced the students and gave a slight nod and wave before McGonagall gave him the OK to start sorting. 

“Now, when I call your name, you will come up and sit on this stool, I will place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your house. Jasmika Antonenko.”

Jasmika flinched when she was the first up, she walked up and took a seat on the stool. 

Just before Phoenix placed the sorting hat on her head, he said, “Don’t freak out.” 

When the hat hit her head, it came alive, forming a face with the folds of fabric, it had a deep, almost menacing voice. 

“Hmm, yes, I see, let me think...Hufflepuff!” 

And with that Jasmika walked off to join her house, greeting the people in it. 

“Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger, (Still a mouthful).” 

Constanze did the same as Jasmika and took a seat on the stool, once the hat was put on her head it came to life once more. 

“Hmm, an engineer of sorts, yes quite intelligent, yes Ravenclaw!” 

Constanze was flattered by what the hat said but was surprised that she wasn’t in the same house as Constanze, but there were perks. She made her way to her fellow Ravenclaws and greeted them with a small smile. 

“Henry Franks” 

A chubby boy with hazel hair and a lot of freckles stepped forward, and sat down, 

“Hmm, interesting, quite the brute, yes, I think Hufflepuff!” 

Henry walked toward his new house and right beside Jasmika. 

“Amanda O'Neill” 

Amanda, for the first time in a while, was terrified, she sat on the stool and waited for her judgment. 

“Ah...someone with a sense of adventure and yet a weak sense of judgment, hmm...Hufflepuff!” 

Amanda let out a sigh of relief as she joined Jasmika at the Hufflepuff table, she noticed that Jasmika looked slightly tensed, beads of sweat were rolling down her head. She was starving but she didn’t want anyone to see that, but Amanda knew her all too well. 

“Lotte Yanson.” 

Lotte looked up at Phoenix who smiled when he read her name, nodding for her to come up, she did so, letting out a breath to calm down. 

“AH, someone with a unique talent...but also quite studious...Ravenclaw!”

Lotte smiled as she joined Constanze at the Ravenclaw table, Constanze had kept a straight face, but inside she was glad she wasn’t the only one in the group to be put in Ravenclaw. 

“Summer Snow.” 

A girl with white hair and pale skin stepped forward, she looked somewhat young, but at that same time walked with a bit of a limp. 

“Hmm, a sense of morality, and yet a bit of doubt in your mind...hmm, I think, Slytherin!” 

The girl stepped off the stool and limped her way to the Slytherin table, all the while, showing no emotion at all. Sucy watched the girl and sensed something didn’t seem right, almost as if she wasn’t, herself. 

“Sucy Manbavaran.” 

But she didn’t have time to think about that, it was her turn to be sorted. 

“Huh...difficult, you seem a bit mischievous, almost as if you wish to cause trouble…” 

Sucy tried to keep her focus away from Summer, but she had a feeling something was wrong, so she tried something, she whispered, “Put me in Slytherin, I need to be in Slytherin.” 

The hat heard this and questioned her, “You wish to be in Slytherin eh? Not Ravenclaw, you seem to be quite a studious student, but if you’re sure, then Slytherin!” 

Phoenix was confused, but when Sucy walked toward the Slytherin table, she sat next to Summer, he figured that Sucy might be trying to help her. He noticed that something off, 

“ _ Sucy must have noticed something too. _ ” He thought. 

“Atsuko Kagari.” 

Akko, hearing her name, straightened her back, puffed out her chest and walked up, making her friends laugh a bit and forced Phoenix to hold back a laugh. 

”Ah...you are an interesting one...you are a believer...and an achiever, I know just where to put you...Gryffindor!” 

Akko’s eyes widened in excitement but at the same time concern, she was the first to be put into Gryffindor at that point, and Chariot and Diana were the only ones left. Nonetheless, she made her way to the Gryffindor table, while trying to hold back her scream of excitement. 

“Gilbert Nicholson”

A boy with a strange marking on his face stepped forward and took a seat, he almost looked like he was holding back a laugh. 

“Hmm, you’re a strange one...I think I’ll put you in-” 

Gilbert spoke up, “I think you should put me in Gryffindor,” he said with an abnormally large grin, which all the students and Phoenix saw. 

“I think...Slytherin! Now beat it, you scare me.” 

He just casually walked to the far end of the Slytherin table, all the while smiling. 

Phoenix just shook his head and continued. 

“Diana Cavendish.” 

Diana, as her posh self, walked up to be sorted, but inside she was terrified, she wanted to be in Gryffindor as well, but the sorting hat looks at all aspects of a person, so her chances seemed slim to her. 

“Hmm, difficult, you’re very difficult to judge, you have a kind heart, but seem quite cold in your mind... but you seem to have...feelings for someone, in Gryffindor…” 

Diana was slightly thankful that the sorting hat had whispered that last part, but she wanted to try to convince him to put her in Gryffindor but that wasn’t needed, 

“I think I know where you would fit, Gryffindor!” 

Diana had a moment of sweet relief but she had to hide it, but once she reached the table, Akko hugged her close, 

“I’m so glad you’re in the same house as me.” 

Diana returned the hug without hesitation. 

“That only leaves Chariot, I hope the hat will be fair with her.”

“Chariot du Nord.” 

Chariot froze up, she couldn’t do anything she was so nervous. Phoenix gave her a reassuring nod and smile and she walked up, took a seat and hoped for the best. 

“Hmm, interesting, studious, brave, but I sense...regret in your mind. You hide a dark secret, a secret that involves... dark and powerful magic, one that no longer exists.” 

The hat wasn’t wrong, the night she lost the shiny rod, the night she damaged the moon, and the last night she stole the magic power from her audience, was the night that opened her eyes to the horrible things she was doing, but she wished to redeem herself. And she did, she helped get Akko and Diana the positive energy needed to catch up to the missile and taught Akko all she could, but even after what happened, she still felt guilty. 

“Chariot…” 

Chariot heard Phoenix’s voice in her head, 

“When are you going to figure it out? Akko already forgave you, so when are you going to forgive yourself?” 

Those words made her realize she was holding herself back, she needed to forgive herself, she helped so many people after helping with the defeat of the magic missile, she needed to forget the mistakes she learned from. She smiled, she knew that coming here would be a good way to have a fresh start. 

“Hmm, I think you will do well in Slytherin, but you may need to be near friends to help recover from your past, so it’s best you be in...Gryffindor!” 

Chariot gave a look of both shock and joy, as everyone clapped, Chariot joined Akko and Diana at the Gryffindor table. Akko put her hand on Chariot’s shoulder, 

“You’re going to be alright as long as you believe in yourself like you always said.” 

Chariot smiled, she felt a huge weight being lifted off her back, Akko did have a way of cheering people up.

After the last of the first years were sorted, Phoenix tapped a glass in front of him to get everyone's attention, 

“Your attention please.” 

McGonagall got up from her chair and said, “Let the feast begin.” 

And right before their very eyes, a whole feast appeared, every first year was amazed, the LN gang (That’s what I’m calling them) were even more so. But one person, in particular, was enjoying it a bit more than the others...Jasmika was continuously stuffing her face with all sorts of food, Amanda didn’t mind, but Henry was slightly concerned. 

At the Ravenclaw table, Lotte was enjoying some mashed potatoes when she noticed something moving through the table when it got right in front of her, it popped up...it was none other than the Gray Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw house, 

“Oh, hello there.” Lotte greeted kindly, 

“Hello, you must be one of the girls from that other school.” 

“How’d you know?” 

“Word travels fast around Hogwarts, by the way, I’m known as the Gray Lady, but please call me Helena.” 

“Ok Helena, I’m Lotte, and this is Constanze.” 

Constanze looked up and quietly said hi. 

At the Slytherin table, Sucy was eating some chicken while getting to know her fellow Slytherins, but when she turned her attention to Summer, she was just sitting there, staring at her plate. 

“Are you not going to eat something?” 

“I can’t.” 

Sucy jumped when she heard Summer speak, she had a very smooth voice, but she sounded like she had seen death. 

“Why not, you look like you need some food.” 

“I just want to starve, I’m not supposed to be here. I want to be with my family…” 

“You Homesick?” 

“My family is in Hell.” 

Sucy froze when she heard that, Summer said her family was basically dead. Sucy went back to her food and tried to forget what Summer had said. 

And at the Gryffindor table, Akko was chatting with her fellow Gryffindors, Diana was doing some reading while eating, and Chariot was...actually relaxing for once. Phoenix was chatting with the other Professors, catching up with the Professors that he had when he was a student at Hogwarts.

Once the feast ended everyone followed a Prefect in their house to their Common Rooms, but Phoenix was asked to lead the Gryffindors to the Common Room due to the Prefects being busy with their rounds. 

“Keep close Gryffindors, and mind the stairs they...like to change.” 

Akko, Diana, and Chariot were confused by what he said, but they would soon understand when they reached the grand staircase. The stairs were literally moving on their own, going from floor to floor, but they weren’t the only things moving. The paintings were also moving, they were alive, talking not only to them but also to each other. 

“This place is just surprising me more and more,” Akko said looking at all the paintings covering the walls, 

“No kidding, this place has more magic then Luna Nova could ever have,” Diana responded, 

“But that must be because there isn’t a power source for all the magic.” 

“Yeah, maybe.” 

They made their way to the seventh floor, and to a large portrait of a fat lady. The lady came to life and asked, 

“Password?” 

Phoenix responded with, “Dawn’s Truth.” 

The lady nodded and the portrait opened revealing an opening. As they walked in they saw the common room, it was pretty nice, kinda small, but not cramped. 

“Alright, this is the Gryffindor Common Room, if you make your way upstairs you will find the dormitories, boys will be on the left, girls on the right. Your things have already been brought up, get settled in and head to bed, you have your first classes in a couple of days.” 

Most of the students chose to head to bed, others, including Akko, Diana, and Chariot, chose to look around for a bit, and hang around the fire to settle in a bit easier. 

“This place is great, much roomier than the dorms at Luna Nova, I wonder what the other common rooms are like,” Akko said relaxing on the couch.

In the Ravenclaw Common Room, Lotte and Constanze, along with the other Ravenclaw first years had entered and begun settling in. Most of the first years chose to either go to bed or check out the books on the shelves, Lotte was one of the book readers. 

Constanze, on the other hand, went to a part of the common room with not many people, so she could let Stanbot out, who was hiding in her hood. She tried to think of a way to use Stanbot while at Hogwarts, seeing how Phoenix mentioned how they don’t use technology much in the Wizard World, 

“Hmm, maybe I could use you to help take notes, help study...or maybe…” 

Constanze had something planned, something that may help not only her but also her friends. 

“Hmm, I wonder if this place has a library as big as Luna Nova, maybe even bigger,” Lotte said, putting a book back on the shelf. 

Constanze nodded in agreement, but her mind soon turned to how Amanda and Jasmika were doing, she was missing them a little.

In the Hufflepuff Common room...everyone was asleep...except Amanda and Jasmika, Amanda was just sitting on her bed, thinking about what will come in the near future. 

“We’re kind spread out eh Jasmika?” Jasmika nodded with a mouth full of food, she had snuck some food into her robe to eat in the common room. 

“This place seems so cool, but I have a feeling the people will be different, not the teachers, they seem nice, but the other students.” 

Jasmika stopped eating and said, “You worry too much, just relax, this is a new school, new experience, a fresh start, just let it happen.” 

She then continued eating, 

“Heh, you’re right, this is a fresh start, a chance to change, and I’ll take advantage of it. Thanks, Jasmika.” 

“Hmm hmm.”

In the Slytherin Common Room, Sucy was getting ready for bed, but she noticed something that made her skin crawl a bit. Summer was walking out of the girl’s dorm with something in her hand, something that resembled her wand, but it had a sharp point to it. 

She snuck behind her, being sure not to make a sound and making sure to keep a good distance from her. Summer stopped right at the fireplace and lit it up with her wand. Sucy watched from around the corner trying to figure out what Summer was up to, she got her answer when Summer pulled out a photo, one of her, what seemed to be her parents and an older boy, 

“I’m sorry Marcus, but I need to see them.”

She put the photo back in her pocket and pulled out her wand, she pointed it at her neck and said, “Sectum-” 

“Expelliarmus!” 

Summer’s wand flew out of her hand and into the hand of a boy, about 16 and had a scar over his mouth. 

“Summer, how many times do I have to tell you, Mum and Dad, aren't dead, they’re just a bit sick. Now please, go to bed, you have classes in a few days, get some rest.” 

Summer tried to say something, but stopped herself and made her way back to the dorms. Sucy hid from her and she walked right past her. 

“You can come out now. I know you’re there,” 

Sucy flinched a bit, but she did as she was told, 

“Uh, I was just concerned about her, I wasn’t…” 

The boy stopped her, “It’s alright, I believe you. She can just be...a bit desperate for answers. Oh, I’m Marcus Snow, by the way, I’m a sixth year and a Prefect for Slytherin House.” 

Sucy put two and two together and realized who she was talking to, 

“So, you’re Summer’s brother, how’d you get the…” Sucy gestured to her mouth, making the same shape of the scar, 

“Heh, this is from one of her attempts to befriend a minotaur, and uh, she came close, but she got a bit too...emotional. But I’m guessing the question you really want to ask is, why she was acting like that, right?” Sucy nodded. 

“Well, I’ll make this simple to understand, our parents...well. They were tortured to insanity, by our uncle. He was a horrible man, thought our father was the reason our grandfather gave all his valuable assets to us and not him. We tried to stop him and he managed to torture Summer a bit, but I couldn’t stop him in time. The damage had already been done. He’s dead now, he axed himself off before he could get arrested.” 

Sucy was shocked, his family had a painful past, and he’s the only one who’s sane and he looked like he had his hands full. 

“How long has Summer been like that?” 

Marcus looked away, “5 years. She’s been like this for 5 years.” 

Sucy was taken aback, she had to live without her parents for half her life, Marcus had to raise her while he was still at Hogwarts. 

“Do you feel guilty about what happened?” 

“No...I’ve accepted the cards I’ve been dealt, there’s no going back.” 

Sucy wanted to comfort him, but she was unsure how to feel. 

“I think I’ve gone on for long enough, you should head to bed too, you’ll need your rest. As do I.” 

He made his way to the Boy Dorms, right before he reached the door, he said, “Night Sucy.” 

Sucy made her way back to the Girl Dorms, but she realized that she never told him her name unless he was at the Sorting Ceremony, she was too tired to think.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	6. Chapter 5: A New Game and a New Feeling

***The Next Morning***

The sun  shined through the windows of the castle, every student was up and about, all except the LN gang. Akko was still snoring away, fast asleep, Diana was sitting on the bed next to her, switching between reading and watching Akko, just so she’d be the one to greet her in the morning, as for Chariot...well, she was down in the common room, in front of the fireplace, practicing her spells. And she was back to her normal self, the Polyjuice Potion wore off while she was sleeping. She wanted to be sure she knew how spellcasting worked so she wouldn’t slip up and use her old way. 

Akko groaned in exhaustion as she slowly woke up, rubbing her eyes and stretching. Diana heard her groaning and looked away from her book to see Akko sitting up and looking around. 

“Morning Akko, sleep well?” 

Akko looked toward Diana with a small smile on her face, “Morning Diana, I almost did, I had an amazing dream, but it ended too soon, it was just getting good.” 

Diana perked an eyebrow in interest, “What was it about?” 

Akko widened her eyes, she didn’t want to tell her that her dream was about them, but she knew Diana would figure it out eventually, 

“It was...about...me and you, we were in this tower with a lot of stuff based around...astronomy I think.” 

Diana, kept a calm face, but was filled with joy, “I see, did anything happen?” 

Akko hesitated to continue, but did anyway, “Well, it was during a beautiful sunset, we were...holding hands...and I had my head resting on your shoulder…” 

At this point, Diana was on the brink of wanting to smile so hard, but she did her best to hold it back. 

“And when we looked at each other, the dream suddenly ended.” Akko looked down in sadness, she wished it didn’t end, but dreams can be hard to control. 

Diana put her book down and walked over to her friend, she wrapped her arm around her to comfort her. 

“I know what you mean, dreams can be complicated, sometimes you have full control, and others, well, it’s like you’re on a set track without a clear stopping point.” 

Akko turned to Diana and looked at her with a look of content, she slowly leaned in, hoping that she would get what she wanted in her dream. 

“Hey girls!” Chariot came bursting in causing Akko to back off much to her dismay, “Phoenix has something to tell us.”

Akko and Diana got dressed and made their way downstairs, where Phoenix was waiting, 

“Ah, perfect, you’re up, I have something I wanna show you.” 

The three of them looked at each other in curiosity, 

“What is it, something magical?” Akko asked with stars in her eyes. 

“You bet, I already got the others to meet us there. So, let’s not keep them waiting.” 

So, they grabbed their wands and followed Phoenix to a corridor on the seventh floor, where the rest of the LN gang was waiting. 

“So, what is it that you wanted to show us?” Lotte asked, 

“Something that may help when it comes to giving private lessons.” 

They walk up to a wall...with nothing on it...it was just a wall. 

“Uh...this is it?” Phoenix looked at Amanda with a look of reassurance, “Give it a sec.” 

After a few seconds, something unbelievable happened, a large door formed in the wall, and it opened revealing a large room that would be used for duelling practice. 

“Welcome to the Room of Requirement, a special room that very few people know about. It takes the form of whatever the user needs.” 

“So, if you needed a silent place to read, it would give you a place with lots of books?” Chariot asked. 

“Yeah, that’s the basic point of it. I was hoping to use this room to teach you girls how to fight using magic. That is if you’re interested.” 

Amanda stepped forward and said, “I’m in, I think I may enjoy some magic fighting.” 

“The correct term is Dueling, and I’m in too,” Lotte said stepping forward. 

Sucy was looking around taking in the sights, after thinking for a sec, she smiled, “Count me in.” 

Jasmika and Constanze stepped forward and both said, “Us too.” 

Chariot was hesitant at first, but she started to trust Phoenix after what he said at the Sorting Ceremony, she gripped her wand and stepped forward, “Let’s do it.” 

Akko and Diana looked at each other and nodded. “We’re in, let’s see what we can learn from this.” 

Phoenix smiled, “Nice, we can start tomorrow, a day before classes start.” 

Everyone nodded in agreement, 

“Uh, question?” Constanze raised her hand to get Phoenix’s attention, 

“Yes, Constanze?” 

“Are you sure we’re allowed to do this?” 

“Don’t worry, I asked the headmistress, she is totally cool with this.” 

She doesn’t even know, he was planning on teaching them in secret and had no intention of telling McGonagall.

“Alright, I have a feeling people are going to be roaming around the school soon, so why don’t you girls tour around while you still can, get to know your surroundings.” 

Everyone agreed. 

“I’d suggest heading to the Quidditch pitch first, I have a feeling you may find something that will interest you.” 

They did just that, they walked toward the large area that Phoenix described. 

“Quidditch, huh? Anyone know what Quidditch is?” Diana asked. 

Amanda ran up to the front, “I might be able to explain, I took the liberty of reading up on it. Quidditch is a wizarding sport played on broomsticks. It is the most popular and most well-known game among wizards and witches, and the equivalent to Muggles' passion for football.” 

“Really? How is it played?” Akko asked. 

“Well, the game is played by two teams of seven people: three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper, and a Seeker, and involves four balls, a Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch. The object of the game is to score more points than your opponent. Each goal is worth ten points and catching the Snitch is worth one-hundred fifty points. The game ends when the Snitch is caught or an agreement is reached between the captains of both teams. Some games can go on for many days if the Snitch is not caught.” 

Everyone just stared, it was clear they didn’t quite understand. 

“Heh, it sounds pretty complicated, but I’m sure Phoenix suggested the Pitch first so we can see it in action.” 

Everyone could agree with that, as they made their way to the Quidditch Pitch.

Once they reached the Pitch they were immediately greeted by a ball, a bit larger than a shot-put ball, passing right by their faces. They stood there for a bit, recovering from their shock when a Ravenclaw boy flew down, 

“Sorry about that, nasty little buggers Bludgers are, but as long as you stay off the pitch and in the stands, you should be fine.” 

They all nodded in understanding, still slightly shocked, all except Amanda, who was staring at the boy on the broom, she felt something she never felt. 

“Heh, that’s a...nice broom.” 

“Thanks, a Nimbus 2000, kinda old, but it’s great for Quidditch. I’m guessing you’re all first years, am I right?” 

Lotte managed to recover to answer his question, “Yeah, we’re also not fully familiar with Quidditch, or how flying works.” 

“Oh, you’re those Luna Nova witches, I see two of you are in my house.” 

“Yep, I’m Lotte and this is Constanze.” Constanze nodded with a straight face. 

The others introduced themselves as well, “I’m Akko this is Diana and Chariot.” 

“Name’s Sucy.” 

Jasmika was too busy eating that last of the food she stole from the feast, but Amanda, 

“I’m Amanda, the best flier at LN.” 

Diana responded, “I would say most reckless, but it’s a matter of opinion.” 

Amanda glared at Diana, she was pissed that she would say that in front of someone she was interested in. 

“Nice to meet you, my name’s Ross Silver, 4th year and a Beater for the Ravenclaw team.” 

Everyone was intrigued, Amanda especially, she wanted to see him in action but also was thinking that it may not happen for a while. 

“Is it possible if we could see a practice game of Quidditch? We want to understand how it works.” 

Ross thought for a second before responding, “You could, but the others won’t be here for another 2 hours, so why don’t I give you a small flying lesson. Will that work?” 

Amanda was immediately interested, as was everyone else, Akko was hesitant but she wanted to give it a chance. 

After the Bludgers were put away, they followed Ross to a small broomstick storage closet; he gave each of them a standard, practice broom. They then followed him down to the middle Pitch where he instructed them to place the brooms on the right sides of them. 

“Ok, now place your right hand over your broom and say up.” 

They all did as they were told, Akko’s, Diana’s, and Amanda’s brooms all shot up into their hands, surprising all of them, the others had a bit of a hard time. Jasmika was, trying, Lotte’s was moving but wasn’t going up, Chariots was close a couple times, Sucy just stared for a few seconds before attempting...and having it smack her right in her face, leaving her with a mark on her face and her looking very angry, and Constanze was trying but she couldn’t say it loud enough. 

Once they eventually got their brooms to work with them, Ross continued with his lesson, 

“Ok, now I want you to mount your broom, grip it tightly, don’t want you sliding off the end (And don’t say ‘That’s what she said’). Now, just kick off the ground hard, hover for a bit, then lean forward slightly and touch back down, ready?” 

Everyone nodded as they mounted their brooms, 

“On 3, 1, 2, 3.” 

They all slowly hovered off the ground and managed to get down to the ground at different times, except Akko, who was still in the air but was slowly going down. 

But before she touched the ground, her broom shot up nearly half a mile and started jerking back and forward, side to side and spinning around. 

“Akko, Akko! Hang on!” Ross yelled. 

Everyone was worried, Diana and Chariot the most, Akko was just barely holding on, she lost her grip a couple of times, and was slowly starting to slide off her broomstick. Ross tried to reach for his wand but remembered that he left it with his school robes. Things turned for the worst when Akko was way above the Pitch and she fell off her broom, everybody’s hearts dropped, she was falling fast, flailing her arms and screaming for help. 

Out of nowhere, they heard someone scream, “Arresto Momentum!” and just before Akko hit the ground, she suddenly stopped a foot above the ground, and then plopped down without injury. 

They looked back and saw Phoenix, wand out, with a shocked look on his face, “Oh, thank god, I made it.” 

He put his wand down and walked up to the group, 

“Mr. Silver” 

“Prof. Kingston” 

He leaned down to check Akko, “Are you alright Akko?” 

“Yeah, just a bit shaken.” 

“Understandable, take your time. This wasn’t a case of bad flying; your broom was jinxed.” 

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better, aren’t you?” 

“No, if a broom acts up, it usually just moves on its own, it never moves that erratically. I don’t know who would want to hurt you though.” 

“Why aren’t you broken!?” 

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl about 12 years old, and looked pissed. 

Phoenix’s expression morphed into pure anger, “Nevermind, I found our suspect.” 

The girl attempted to run, but Phoenix snapped his wand out and a magic stream shot out and grabbed her, pulling his wand back, bringing the girl close to them, on her butt and tied up. She looked up and noticed that the person who caught her was a Professor, 

“Uh...heh heh, nice to see you, Prof. Kingston.” 

“Why? Why did you attempt to fatally harm Miss Kagari? And don’t lie to me.” 

The girl tried to think of an excuse but gave up and told the truth, “I wanted to break her, so she wouldn’t get close to my Onii-san.” 

That response made Ross facepalm and left everyone but Phoenix looking confused. 

“Just to clear this up, this little troublemaker, is my little sister, Rose Silver. She’s a 2nd-year and is very close to me, sometimes a bit too close.” 

That made everyone calm down, but left Amanda a bit steamy. 

“I’m guessing she also learned that term from that manga you got her to keep her busy.” 

“Yeah, the second biggest fucking mistake of my life. So, what are you going to do with her?” 

“Hmm...don’t know, detention doesn’t sound like enough, and I think she may just cause more trouble if she were expelled.” 

“How about this.” Ross interrupted stepping toward his sister, “I’ll give her a good punishment that I know will teach her a lesson and she will receive a full year of detention.” 

“WHAT!?” Rose screamed.

Phoenix thought for a minute, before agreeing, “Sounds fair to me.” 

He released the binding and put away his wand, 

“She’s all yours.” 

Ross grabbed Rose by the ear and pulled her away. 

Phoenix turned to Akko who was still a bit shaken, “You want to try that again? This time without anyone jinxing your broom.” 

Akko agreed as long as he promised he would supervise her carefully. He obviously agreed, and Akko mounted her broom again, this time she was a bit scared but focused all the same. 

“3, 2, 1” 

She pushed off the ground and hovered for a bit, she then leaned forward and made it back on the ground, safely. 

“There, feeling better?” 

“Yeah, this is so much easier than flying at LN, almost feels natural.” 

Diana walked up to her and gave her a look that would scare a normal person, but Akko knew that was Diana’s way of showing she cares. She hugged her tight, 

“Don’t scare me like that. I can’t stand losing you.” 

Akko returned the hug and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” 

Phoenix looked at the others that were worried about her, “You have some amazing friends, keep them close.”

“I’ll leave you girls to continue your tour of the castle, I know you’re going to need some time to recover from this...event.” 

He began to walk away, but was stopped by Constanze, 

“You are the one who saved Akko, we may feel better having someone who is familiar with Hogwarts show us around. You’re our friend, you’re a part of this group of friends too.” 

Phoenix looked up, everyone nodded making Phoenix feel...almost loved. “Ok, I’ll show you around, but if I’m going to be your tour guide, you gotta stay close, alright?” 

“Yes, sir.” They all said in unison. 

“Good, now let’s head back to the castle, I have a lot to show you.” 

They walked through the main doors of the castle to see a ghost flying up through the door to the great hall, 

“Nick?” 

The ghost reacted to the name and turned around to face them. 

“Sir Nicholas, long time no see,” Phoenix said. 

“Ah, Phoenix, it has been far too long, I heard you became not only the new DADA professor but also the new Head of Gryffindor house. Congrats my boy.” 

“Thanks, Nick, by the way, how’s your effort to get into the Headless Hunt going?” 

“Hah, unfortunately, they still won’t allow me to join the hunt, but I’m sure they’ll let me in eventually.” 

“Hang in there Nick.” 

“And who are the girls behind you?” 

“Nick, these are the LN witches, girls this is the Ghost of Gryffindor, Nearly Headless Nick, but it’s best you call him Sir Nicholas, or just Nick.” 

Jasmika raised an eyebrow, “Wait, nearly headless, how can someone be nearly headless?” 

“Like this.” Nick then proceeded to pull his head to the side, almost pulling it off completely, revealing the bloody wound that was left. 

Everyone except Sucy and Phoenix winced, Sucy just smiled a bit, and Phoenix had seen it before and was actually intrigued by it. Putting his head back on his shoulders, he made his way up to the staircase to go about his day, 

“Ok, so, let's head to the dungeons first, we’ll make our way up from there.

**END OF CHAPTER**


	7. Chapter 6: Touring Hogwarts

As they travelled down to the dungeons, they noticed how dark it seemed, there weren’t many torches on the wall. Once they reached the potion classroom after a few minutes, they took in their surroundings, spotting many small bottles and vials on the shelves filled with different substances, as well as many different potion ingredients in jars. Sucy felt right at home, but she knew that potion making would be different, she was still excited nonetheless. 

“Ah, Phoenix my boy, showing the new witches my classroom?” 

“Sure am, girls, this is your potions teacher, Prof. Horace Slughorn. Horace, well, you know who they are.” 

Sucy looked at the man before her and thought he looked like someone who wouldn’t spend time teaching, but rather...be retired. 

“So, Prof. Slughorn, got any advice for these witches?” 

“As a matter of fact, I do. If you plan on making potion-making your main focus, it’s a good idea to keep a wound cleaning potion on hand in case something happens while experimenting. I speak from experience.” 

They took note of that, Sucy especially. Diana stepped forward curious about something, 

“How long have you been teaching here?” 

“Well, I’ve taught here for over 60 years, but I retired once I reached 50 years, someone else taught for a few years.” 

Diana stepped back, satisfied having her question answered. 

“Alright, let’s move on with the tour, we’ll see you later Prof.” They made their way back upstairs and toward the ground floor.

As they had made their way up the stairs and down the halls, they passed open windows and several students that were socializing or reading. They reach a room filled with desks in organized rows and different statues at the front of the room. 

“This is the Transfiguration classroom, this is where you will learn how to transform items into animals and vice versa.” 

They looked at each other in slight disbelief, they knew there was some kind of magic like that at LN, but they knew it would work differently here but they still looked forward to it. 

“And before you ask, I can’t confirm if it’s possible to transform yourself into animals, I didn’t spend my entire time in Transfiguration, mostly DADA...and Potions...and a bit of Charms...yeah” 

“I’ll take what I can get.” Akko said. 

“There’s also the Transfiguration Courtyard just outside, that’s mostly used for larger Transfiguration spells.” 

They looked out and saw the courtyard and imagined what they might learn. 

“So, who teaches this class?” Lotte asked. 

Phoenix was about to answer when he realized that he actually didn’t know, he remembered that McGonagall used to teach that class, but once she became Head of Hogwarts she probably gave up that post. “I’m not sure...you’ll find out when classes start.” 

They then made their way to the Muggle Studies Classroom, Phoenix explained that it’s mainly for people who didn’t understand Muggles and wanted to know more about them. 

After they looked around for a bit, they made their way up the stairs and toward the 1st floor, which took a bit more time due to the stairs moving around. 

They noticed that there were more people on the 1st floor, and most were waiting in front of the DADA classroom. 

“Uh...what’s happening?” Chariot asked, 

“Not sure.” Phoenix stepped forward and placed his wand to his neck, “Excuse me.” 

Everyone jumped when he spoke, even the LN gang, they weren’t expecting his voice to become so loud. 

“Why are all of you standing outside my classroom? Classes aren’t for a couple of days.” 

Everyone ran up to him and began asking tons of questions. “How did you get the post of DADA professor?” “How did you meet those LN witches?” “Do you know how a Raven is like a writing desk?” 

Phoenix raised his hand and they all became silent almost instantly, “I’m not here to answer questions, and please don’t bother the witches from Luna Nova, they are not here for your enjoyment. Now mind your own business and back away from my class.” 

They did so reluctantly, passing right by the girls. 

“Now, let's get into my new class before they realize who they just passed.” 

They all nodded and ran in, with Phoenix making sure the door was locked. 

“So, this is the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, where I’ll be teaching.” 

They looked around and noticed that there were a lot of tools and strange objects on the shelves. 

“What will we learn in this class?” Sucy asked, 

“Well, the dark arts, obviously, as well as how to properly use and defend against magic and magic creatures.” 

“Ah, now this class I might like, but didn’t you say you were going to do that in the Room of Requirement?” Amanda said. 

“Yes, but I will be teaching you the basics here and more advanced stuff in private lessons. I want to be absolutely sure that you know how to defend yourselves, you may have seen some dangerous beasts at LN, but there are more you may need to worry about here.” 

They understood his concern, but Constance was still curious about one thing, “Are there any creatures that are unaffected by magic?” 

Phoenix turned to Constance and thought for a second, “There is one, Dementors, they can’t be killed, only fended off, and only one charm can do it. I might teach you when we start our private lessons.”

Phoenix peeked to see if the coast was clear and they quickly made their way to the next part of the tour, the History of Magic classroom. When they arrived, someone was already there, sorting through what looked like textbooks. 

“Afternoon Prof. Binns, sorry to interrupt your book charming, but I wanted to show our students from LN the castle.” 

“Not to worry Prof. Kingston, I was just about done. Allow me to enlighten your friends on what this class is mainly for.” 

The girls entered and turned their attention to their soon to be History Professor. 

“This class isn’t like a normal history class, I teach the history of magic and how it’s evolved over the centuries. As well as some ancient magic that isn’t used as much today.” 

Most of the girls were intrigued, 

“So, what were you doing to those textbooks?” Akko asked pointing at the stack of books, 

“I was placing a special anti-cheating and vandal-proof charm on them.” 

Akko nodded in understanding. 

“Ok, let’s move on, still lots to see.” As they left the classroom, Prof. Binns went back to his book charming, and they continued their tour. 

After a couple of minutes of walking and going through the Tapestry Corridor, they reached what appeared to be some sort of Infirmary, 

“This is the Hospital Wing, this is where you’ll go if you end up getting seriously hurt, which I hope won’t be often.” 

They looked around and noticed there was someone already in one of the beds and they had a visitor. They got closer and Sucy instantly recognized who the two were, 

“Marcus? Summer?” Sucy said in surprise, 

“Sucy, nice to see you again.” 

Sucy then turned her attention to Summer, who was out cold and had bandages on her arms, 

“What happened?” 

Marcus sighed, “She went into the dark forest and tried to befriend a creature, but she ran into a giant spider and it attacked her. Thankfully, I was following her to make sure she wasn’t going to do anything crazy. But, the bite had knocked her out, Madam Pomfrey said she’ll be fine” 

“That’s a relief,” Phoenix said, “I’m aware of how Summer has been acting, thanks to a tip I got from a student in your house. All I can say is, you need to find something that will calm her nerves, or else it may get to a point where she will go to even greater lengths to...well, you know what I mean.” 

Marcus understood and hoped it would never get to that point. Sucy felt sorry for Marcus, he cared about his sister but he knows he won’t be able to protect her forever.

After some time passed, they walked out of the Hospital Wing, all in a mix of sadness and worry. 

“I hope Summer gets better, Marcus looked exhausted from watching over her.” Lotte said looking back, 

“She will, Marcus has faith and so do I.” Sucy said with a bit of confidence. 

“Only time will tell, let's continue, hopefully, we can bring the mood back up.” 

They made their way up to the third floor and passed the One-Eyed Witch Passage. They reached a classroom that was structured like a small auditorium. “This is the Charms classroom, Prof. Flitwick will be teaching you in this class, and please keep in mind, he is short, so please don’t make any short jokes, Amanda.” 

Amanda flinched when she was singled out, “I promise I won’t make any short jokes.” 

Phoenix nodded, satisfied with the answer given. 

They continued down the hall, passing the clock tower, and stopped at a couple of somewhat large doors. 

“This is where we’ll take a break, but before we enter, prepare for amazement,” Phoenix said, the group nodding some of them looking both determined and excited. 

Phoenix used his wand to open the doors, as the doors slowly opened, the girls could see the floors upon floors of bookshelves, some of the books were even flying on their own to different shelves, and books were either flying back to there place when students held them near their shelf or floating down to students’ hands when they asked. 

The girls were in awe, “Welcome to the Library, this is where you’ll obviously be doing most of your studying and research. It closes at 8 PM and opens at 8 AM, so if you need to get any last-second books, get here fast, once the clock hits 8 the doors lock up instantly.” 

They stepped in and took a seat at one of the nearby tables. They all looked around and got some books to read, all were amazed by the size of the Library and the amount of magic that was used in it. 

“This library is way bigger than the one at LN, I wonder if anyone gets lost in here.” Lotte thought to herself. 

Diana pulled down a book on the history of Herbology, Amanda got a book on Quidditch records and champions, and Constanze searched for a book on what kind of Wizard Tech exists. 

The others decided to just sit and get some rest, Phoenix explained how getting books worked, and how to avoid the restricted section unless they’re with a professor or once they get to year 4. 

“The Restricted section is called that for a reason, there are a lot of books that most shouldn’t see unless they are “Mature” enough.” 

They spent a good 2 or so hours in the library, reading books on subjects they were interested in, exploring the library so they could memorize its layout, or just relaxing and chatting.

After they put their books away and met back up at the front, they continued the tour. 

Making their way up to the fifth floor, they got to see the Art and Music classrooms, where Phoenix explained that they would be learning both Wizard and Muggle Art and Music. 

They also ran into Divination Prof., Prof. Sybill Trelawney, who seemed a bit on edge. 

“Prof. Trelawney, fancy meeting you out in the halls, I thought you’d be in your class setting up your crystal balls.” 

Trelawney looked up and spoke in a very fearful tone, “My boy, there is dark magic in your future, as well as your friends. Dark magic that came from an ancient artifact.” 

Phoenix flinched when he heard that, an ancient artifact, what was she referring to? “We’ll discuss this in detail at a later point, please try and calm yourself.” 

They continued forward toward the last part of the tour, up a set of stairs they reached the top of the tallest tower at Hogwarts, The Astronomy Tower. 

“This is where our tour of the castle shall end, this is the Astronomy Tower, a place I usually go to either think or just watch the sunset.” 

When Akko heard that last part she was immediately reminded of her dream, the dream where she and Diana almost kissed. A noticeable blush appeared on Akko’s face as she walked toward the railing surrounding the edge of the tower, she could see all of the Hogwarts Grounds, even spotting a small hut. 

“Hey, Phoenix. What’s that hut for?” 

Phoenix looked to where Akko was pointing and answered without hesitation, “That’s Hagrid’s home, it’s a nice little place. And that over there…” he said as he pointed toward the group of greenhouses, “are the Herbology Greenhouses, where you’ll learn about different plants and how to either take care of them or get rid of them.”

After spending some time enjoying the view for a while, Akko and Diana stepped to the side to watch the sunset together. 

Phoenix noticed this and got the attention of others, “Ok, I wanna show you the telescope, it’s pretty cool.” 

The others went down to the lower level and as Phoenix made his way down, he turned to Akko and Diana and winked, 

“Don’t worry, your secret's safe with me.” 

They were a little confused as to how he would know, but they ignored him. 

“The sunset really is beautiful from up here.” Akko said, admiring the sunset, 

“Yeah, it is. Is this like your dream?” Diana asked. 

Akko looked at Diana and nodded, she then proceeded to bring her hand closer to Diana’s, who did the same, prompting them to hold each other's hand. Akko rested her head on Diana’s shoulder and Diana rested her head on Akko’s, prompting both of them to start blushing like mad. They could hear each other’s heartbeat, which was getting faster as time passed, both of them wanted the same thing. They turned their heads to face each other, looking into each other’s eyes, they slowly closed their eyes and brought their lips closer. After what felt like an eternity, they locked lips and brought each other close. They kissed for a good 5 minutes before their lips separated, 

“I love you, Diana Cavendish.” Akko said softly, 

“I love you too, Akko Kagari.” 

They felt huge weights being lifted off them, they felt free, now that they didn’t have to hide their feelings from the person they loved. 

“We’re still going to need to keep this a secret from the others, who knows how they’ll react.” 

“Right, Phoenix said he’d keep our secret to himself, and I trust him.” 

Diana nodded. 

“Let’s join the others, they’re probably wondering where we are.” 

But before they could join them they felt a sudden chill down their spines, and a feeling that they were being...watched. They turned to find a large cloaked figure rising up, everything around it had frost forming on it, 

“What is that?” Diana asked, frightened. 

But before she could even get a response from Akko, the figure lunged toward them. They braced for its attack but it was soon stopped by a bright light which scared it away.

They turned to find Phoenix, who had a look of both fear and confusion on his face.   
“Are you two alright?” 

Both girls nodded, “What was that thing?” Diana asked a bit shaken, 

“That...was a dementor, the creature I mentioned. But I don’t understand, why was it here...who or what brought it here?”

END OF CHAPTER


	8. Chapter 7: Dark Magic Revealed

The group quickly made their way to the DADA classroom, Phoenix looked seriously on edge and the girls had looks of fear on their faces. Once they reached the classroom, Phoenix locked the door and began pacing for a few minutes. 

“This doesn’t make any sense, why were those Dementors here?” He muttered to himself, “Did someone send them? If so, then why?” 

When he finally got his thoughts together, he turned to the obviously confused and slightly frightened group of witches. 

“I think you deserve an explanation. Take a seat,” 

They did so, but they were still wondering why he was so shaken. 

“Let’s start with what those things that attempted to attack Akko and Diana were and why everything became cold when they arrived. Those were the Dementors I mentioned earlier, they feed off of positive thoughts and emotions, they leave sorrow and the feeling of emptiness in their wake, and they mainly guard the wizard prison Azkaban, where they roam the most and only leave if they are commanded to by the ministry.” 

The girls were intrigued but also scared by what the Dementors were described as. 

“So, they sap you of your happiness?” Akko asked, 

“Not just happiness, happy memories too. But that’s not the worst part, if they get too close they can suck out your soul, killing you.” 

That last fact made the group freeze up in their seats, even Sucy, who was imagining what it would feel like to have her soul sucked out. It chilled her to the bone. 

“Constanze, you asked if there was a creature that couldn’t be killed, Dementors was what I responded with, do you remember what I also said?” 

Constanze thought for a second, before she finally got her answer, “You said they could only be fended off, and there was only one charm that could do it.” 

Phoenix nodded, “Correct, and that one charm is the Patronus charm.” 

Phoenix pulled out his wand to explain and demonstrate. 

“The Patronus charm is like a shield or guardian between you and the Dementor. It requires the caster to think of their happiest memory and a full, perfect Patronus takes the form of an animal.” 

He then spoke the incantation “Expecto Patronum.” And a soft light escaped his wand and took the form of a Wolf. 

Everyone was amazed but also curious about what their Patronus might look like. 

Sucy got Phoenix’s attention to ask a question, “Is it possible to have more than one animal for your Patronus?” 

Phoenix thought for a second, “No, each person has one animal, though the animal can be normal or magical, you’ll just have to find out for yourself.”

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a loud banging on the door, along with a voice, 

“Prof. Kingston! Please, open the door, it’s an emergency!” 

Phoenix quickly unlocked and opened the door to his class and to his surprise, the person speaking wasn’t another professor, it was a 2nd-year student, two in fact. It was the Trane Twins, Richard and Rochelle, and they looked extremely worried. 

“Prof. you need to come quick, dementors found a way into the castle and they’re attacking people!” 

“Ok, stay here, I’ll take care of it.” Phoenix said running toward the Grand Staircase. 

As he made his way to the stairs, he felt the air around him grow cold, even spotting a thin layer of frost on the walls. He increased his speed, hoping he could, at the very least, prevent any deaths. 

“ _ Why’d it have to be now, why did it have to be this year? _ ” Phoenix thought to himself. 

Once he made it to the stairs, he was awestruck by the amount of Dementors lurking about. He quickly surveyed the area to see if there was anyone on the stairs, thankfully, there wasn’t. He pulled out his wand and focused on casting a large Patronus, to fend them off. 

But before he could cast it, he was hit with a spell. He switched his attention to the caster and saw someone in a black cloak, they were quite small. When they realized they were spotted they made a run for it, but Phoenix quickly casted a special jinx, “Locomotor Mortis”. It was a direct hit and the mystery caster fell to the ground. After resuming his Patronus cast, and driving the dementors in the staircase away. 

He made his way down to the person that attacked him, they tried to crawl their way down the stairs but he caught them before they could escape. 

“You are coming with me.” Phoenix said with a hint of anger in his voice.

But before he could make his way back to his class with the others, he heard someone behind him scream, 

“Wait, wait for me!” 

He turned around and saw a man, around the age of 40, running toward what appeared to be a large dove. 

Phoenix flicked his wand and said “Petrificus Totalus”, and the dove froze up and fell into the man’s hands. 

“Much appreciated, this was my pet lizard but I turned him into a dove as a little experiment.” 

“My pleasure, now if you’ll excuse me, I have a suspected criminal to interrogate.”

And with that, Phoenix made his way up to his class, while the man he helped made his way down the hall on the ground floor.

After entering the room, he threw the person he had caught onto the floor, the sound got the attention of the group that was already in the room, 

“I’ve taken care of the dementors, and I think I’ve found the person responsible.” Phoenix said gesturing to the person hunched over. 

The group of students gathered around the person and readied themselves for who could be under the hood. Phoenix quickly removed the hood revealing the person’s face. The person was a young girl, around the age of 13, she had dark blonde hair, light green eyes and a scar on her cheek. 

Rochelle was the first to speak up, “Who are you?” 

The girl looked up, with a small smirk on her face, “It won’t matter when the heir of the Dark Lord rises up.” 

This confused the LN gang, but the twins and Phoenix were shocked, 

“What are you talking about? Who are you talking about?” Richard said with fear in his voice. 

“I won’t talk, you can’t make me.” 

Phoenix looked at her with a smile on his face, 

“We’ll see about that.” 

He made his way up to his office and grabbed a vile of something. He grabbed her face, forcing her mouth open, and pouring some sort of clear liquid into her mouth. She instantly swallowed it to avoid choking. 

“Now, who are you?” 

“Eve Lumen.” She answered without hesitation, surprising everyone. 

“Who sent you? Was it another student?” 

“Yes, I don’t know her name, she wished to avenge the dark lord.” 

Phoenix knew she was telling the truth. 

“What was that stuff you made her drink?” Akko asked. 

“Veritaserum, basically truth serum. And we now know someone at Hogwarts wishes to continue the work of...well, I’ll explain some other time.”

Phoenix escorted Eve down to the front of the castle, where members of the Ministry of Magic were waiting. He handed her over for further interrogating, after, he returned to the DADA class for, hopefully, the last time today. 

When he reached the class, he noticed that the twins had left, and the girls were talking with each other. They looked slightly scared and he even noticed that some were in deep thought, wondering something. 

“I wanna start by apologizing, I never expected this year to start on such a low note. I know you all probably want to leave Hogwarts, return to Luna Nova where you can be safe.” Phoenix looked down in both despair and disappointment. 

His head suddenly shot up when he heard Amanda yell, “Are you kidding? Why would we ever wanna leave? This place is great, way more exciting then bland, old Luna Nova.” 

The others nodded in agreement, 

“While we definitely understand that the wizarding world has many dangers, we still wish to learn about them, we still want to know more about this world.” Diana said with a content smile on her face. Akko hugged her close with a huge smile on her face. 

Phoenix was surprised by their response, “So, let me see if I understand this, you get attacked by a dark creature, nearly witness the death of some students and even after me explaining how dangerous this world is...you STILL wanna stay?” 

The group looked at each other and said “Yes!” 

Phoenix was both confused and awestruck, “Heh...you girls really are crazy, but you’re also talented in your own ways.” 

Phoenix walked up to the front of the room, and grabbed a book, 

“This is a book of defensive spells and charms, head to the room of requirement and study it for a bit, I need to check in with McGonagall first.” 

The girls agreed and Lotte took the book from Phoenix.

***Amanda’s View***

After we left the DADA classroom, I started to think a little more about what my Patronus could be, as well as what my happiest memory would be. But my thinking would be cut short by the sound of a familiar voice, 

“Hey, girls!” 

It was Ross, but he seemed concerned, he ran up to us and took a second to breathe. 

“Thank god I found you, I heard what happened with the dementors and didn’t see you in the Great Hall.” 

While the others were happy to know there was another student that cared about them, I was ecstatic. When I first saw Ross, there was something about him that I liked, maybe it was his interest in flying, maybe because I wanted to be a part of Quidditch, or maybe because I liked his voice. Whatever the reason, I just felt something strong about Ross. 

“H-hey, Ross, how have you been?” I said, clearly in a panic to say something. 

“I’m fine, I just came from the Ravenclaw common room after giving my sister her punishment. Trust me when I say, she shouldn’t bother you girls anymore.” 

We were very clearly relieved by that news, Rose definitely had an instant grudge against anyone who got close to Ross. 

“Ok, sounds good, we were just on our way to the Room of Re-” 

My sentence was cut short when Lotte covered my mouth with her free hand, 

“Amanda, we're not supposed to tell anyone about the ‘You know what room’” She whispered into my ear, sounding slightly frightened and angry. 

“Room of Requirement, right?” Ross said out of nowhere. 

We were surprised he knew about it, but then again, Phoenix said people know about it, but don’t know where it is. 

“Yeah...you know where it is?” Lotte asked, 

“7th floor, think of what you want and it will appear. I found it on my 2nd year, spent most of my 2 extra years in there.” 

We were surprised he knew where it was, but that last part made us confused. 

“Wait 2 years? How old are you?” Diana said, 

“16, why?” 

“You said you were in your 4th year, right?” 

“Yes, my 4th ‘school’ year, I’ve been here for 5 years total.” 

I was taken aback, he loved flying, was a kind-hearted person and wasn’t very studious...he’s a lot like me. 

“Are you single?” I quickly blurted out randomly. 

Ross and the others were surprised by my sudden show of romantic interest. 

“I am, I’ve never really had a girlfriend, mainly because of you know who.” 

I knew exactly who he was talking about, his sister must really have attachment issues. “Why do you ask, hmm?” Ross said giving me a skeptical look, 

“Uh...heh...no reason, not like I like you.” I said crossing my arms and pouting with a deep blush on my face. 

The others gave me a similar look as Ross, 

“Right, well, if you’re going to the RoR, mind if I come along?” Ross said attempting to change the subject, 

I look to the others to see what they think and they nodded toward me giving me the ok, 

“Don’t mind at all.” We then proceeded up the stairs, toward the 7th floor.

Once the group reached the place where the RoR would appear, Akko stepped forward and focused on summoning the door. After a minute or two, the door started to appear, as the final part of it appeared the door opened revealing what they had seen earlier that day. They all walked in and spread out to different corners of the room, some had practice targets waiting to be used, some had benches, the others were clear of anything. 

“Now, let’s see what we can start with,” Lotte said flipping through the pages of the book. 

She stopped on one, “Expelliarmus, the Disarming Charm. That might be useful. So, in order for it to work, you have to make a quick motion with your wand while saying the incantation.” 

She made the motion shown in the book without saying the incantation. Akko grabbed one of the dummies and rolled it to the other side of the room and placed a fake wand in its hand. 

“Ok, let’s see how it works, mind demonstrating Lotte?” 

“Don’t mind at all.” Lotte said moving in front of the dummy. 

The dummy moved to a duelling position, and Lotte readied herself, “Expelliarmus!” and the wand in the dummy’s hand flew out of its hand, impressing everyone but Ross. 

“Not bad Lotte, who’s next?” 

They continued to practice some defensive spells, learning Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Protego, and Episkey for healing small wounds. After about 45 minutes of practice, and some minor healing, they decided to stop for the day. 

“That...was fun, I can’t wait to do this more often,” Amanda said resting on the nearby bench. 

“I wouldn’t get too excited, you do know that these are still private ‘Lessons’, Phoenix is going to be expecting us to take this seriously.” Chariot said moving the practice dummies back in the corner. 

“I’m taking this seriously, doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it. Speaking of Phoenix, I wonder how he’s doing with the Head-honcho.”

Back with Phoenix, he made his way to the headmaster’s office, where McGonagall was waiting, speaking to the portraits to be sure that all the students got to their common rooms safely. 

He walked up to the Griffin statue, and spoke the password, “Mango Sundae.” 

And the statue spun clockwise and upwards.

“Heh, still using those food-based passwords like Dumbledore, eh Minerva?” He said walking up the steps to her office. 

As he opened the door, he noticed that McGonagall was pacing in front of her desk, looking both worried and in deep thought. 

“You ok Minerva? You look like you’re about to lose it.” 

This caught her attention, snapping her focus toward Phoenix, “I feel like I’m about to drop from stress, Dementors in the castle, strange whispers, and students running around, vulnerable…” 

One of the things she listed caught his attention and made him flinch, 

“Wait wait, I know about the Dementors, I expected students to most likely freakout, but I never heard anything about any whispers. Who said anything about whispers?” 

McGonagall looked at Phoenix in slight fear, 

“One of the 1st year students mentioned it to a Portrait, they said that it said ‘We shall continue his mission, all of non-magic heritage will perish, all who opposed him will fall.’ I’m not sure who they’re talking about.” 

“I do. I just so happen to have caught someone who told me something...well...honestly concerning. She mentioned that there was a student that wished to continue, Voldemort's legacy. She didn’t know who she was though, I used the Veritaserum so she was telling the full truth.” 

“We should lock down the castle.” 

“NO!” Phoenix screamed, 

“That’s exactly what she wants, to trap her targets in the castle. We need to act natural, pretend we’re not afraid, remember, she’s still a student, she’s bound to reveal herself when the time comes, for now, notify the other professors, make sure they know what’s happening. We just need to stay prepared and alert, she’ll slip up and show herself. I just hope no one gets hurt in the process, or worse.”

**END OF CHAPTER**


	9. Chapter 8: Truths Told, Secrets Found

Back at the Room of Requirement, the group was chatting away about how classes might work, what they’ll learn, and Amanda was talking to Ross about when the first Quidditch match will be. 

“The first game should be in the first or second weekend of November, it’ll be against long-time rivals, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Ravenclaw won’t be playing until the third or fourth weekend, against Hufflepuff.” 

Amanda was understandably unhappy that she would have to wait so long, “Well, I guess I’ll have to wait a while, but till then, I guess I’ll have to just fantasize...I mean Imagine, what a full Quidditch match would look like.” 

Everyone caught her slip-up, but they blew it off as her just trying to use a better word that doesn’t sound weird. 

“So, Ross, what can you tell us about how classes are structured, maybe warn us of anything a certain professor is known for?” Akko asked. 

Ross took a minute to think before answering, “Charms, Flitwick can be a bit...hard on students who are late, but he’s actually a really nice guy.

Potions, Slughorn is a very humble man, very kind, but he will try to be funny at times, it’s best to just smile, even if it's not funny. 

Transfiguration, I...actually don’t know who’s the professor in that class. 

History of Magic, Binns will be a bit oblivious to what happens around him due to him being...well...old. 

Astronomy, Sinistra is mostly average, though she takes any inaccuracies in assignments very seriously. 

Herbology, Sprout is actually pretty loose, though sometimes a little too loose, so try not to get hurt. 

And Defence Against the Dark Arts...well you already know who Phoenix is.” 

“Right, yeah, we’ll take note of that.” Akko responded. 

“As for how they’re structured, it’s basically, Lesson, class assignment and then possibly homework or free time. Sometimes one of those will be longer or removed that day.” 

“Seems simple enough, but I’m sure the lectures will still be boring.” Akko said, giving a look of boredom.

“Actually, the only professor that I’ve ever had that gave lectures was Snape, but...he no longer teaches.” Ross said with a bit of sadness in his voice. 

Amanda caught this, seeing how she had a knack for predicting how people felt through the sounds of their voices and the look on their faces. 

“Why’s that, did he retire?”

“No...he was killed during that battle for Hogwarts, he was a double agent for the previous Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.” 

This surprised the others tremendously, they had no idea there was a war at Hogwarts. They even started to wonder what else Phoenix hadn’t told them and if he was planning to hide it from them. 

But Chariot broke the long silence, “How many?” 

Ross turned his attention to her, “What?” 

“How many people died during that war?” 

Ross looked down, looking very hesitant to answer. 

“Countless, I almost died but was saved by one of the professors. The castle was practically destroyed by the end of it.” 

By the end of Ross’ explanation, Chariot was thinking about what Phoenix was going to explain earlier. 

“ _ What does he know about this war? Was he a part of it? Most importantly...why didn’t he mention this before? _ ”   
  
***Meanwhile in the Head’s Office***   
  
“So, let me see if I understand what you’re planning, you want us to leave the doors open, let classes go as normal and hope this Voldemort Avenger just reveals themselves?” 

“Pretty much, yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but keep this in mind. If we were to lock down the school, it would take longer for everyone to evacuate should there be any ‘life-threatening’ problems.” 

McGonagall had no choice but to agree, he had a point. She knew the year would still have its usual dark events like it always does, but this time, it was much more dire. 

“But enough about that, I have an important question. Who’s the Transfiguration Professor suppose to be? You used to have that job, but after you became Headmistress, the job was left empty.” 

“That would be a man who goes by the name, Charles Rusticitas. In fact, he was in my office not long ago, right before the Dementors appeared.” 

Phoenix then remembered the man that was chasing his dove or lizard.

“I think I ran into him when I caught that follower. He was about 40, had some scruff on his face and had a bit of a shaky voice.” 

“That would be him, I assure you he is very experienced in Transfiguration magic, he can just be a bit clumsy at times.” 

Phoenix just nodded, thinking that was a bit of an understatement. 

“Well, thank you for the update, I should head to the Gryffindor common room to check on the students and make sure MY students are alright.”

And with that, Phoenix made his way up to the RoR to see if the girls were still there. 

“Girls, I’m back from my talk with McGona…” 

Phoenix’s greeting was cut off when he saw Ross, and everyone giving him a look of, almost disappointment. 

“Why is Ross here and what did he tell you that would make you so angry?” 

Chariot got up and looked at him straight in the eye, “You owe us an explanation. Who is this Dark Lord? Why is he so dangerous? And why didn’t you tell us there was a war here?” 

That last one shocked Phoenix at first until he realized that Ross had probably told them. He had no choice, he had to explain the whole truth, they deserved it.    
  
“Alright, I’ll explain. Let's start with who the Dark Lord is, or as he is more commonly known today as Voldemort, and why he’s so dangerous.” 

The girls prepared themselves for the long story, knowing that Phoenix wouldn’t leave out any major details. 

“Before he was Voldemort, the most powerful dark sorcerer, he was a mere boy, named Tom Marvolo Riddle. He was an orphan, picked on by the other kids, and he felt different. The reason? He had dark magic within him, created from rage and abuse from others. 

It wasn’t until Albus Dumbledore travelled to the orphanage where Tom was, in an attempt to bring him to Hogwarts to control his magic. He was successful, but not without having some second thoughts about his choice. For you see, Tom could move objects without touching them, commend animals without training them, make bad things happen to people, make them hurt, and speak to snakes, they whispered things to him, dark things. All of this without a wand or training on how to control it. 

Later in his youth, he had discovered something that kickstarted his plan, a piece of dark and horrible magic.” Phoenix shuddered at the thought of it.

“What was it?” Lotte asked, looking very concerned, 

“A Horcrux. An item in which you can hide a piece of your soul, so you can’t die unless it’s destroyed. It’s created when the act of murder is committed, half of your soul is ripped from the body and put into the object of the wizard’s choice. While a normal person would make one, he made seven.” 

Everyone was awestruck, 

“SEVEN? That’s...that’s horrible, he murdered seven people just to get immortality?” Diana said, or rather screamed. 

“Not just anyone, his own father, many innocent people, and even himself. You see there was one of the seven he never meant to make, that being, Harry Potter, who was given the title, The Boy Who Lived, thanks to him surviving the Killing Curse, twice.”

“Killing...Curse?” Sucy asked, slightly fearful. “There’s just a curse that can kill you?” 

“Yes, one of the Unforgivable Curses. They can’t be blocked, they can’t be resisted, and they will give you a one-way ticket to the wizard prison, Azkaban if used. Not many wizards have escaped without help, only one has escaped on their own.” 

“What are the other curses? Are they worse?” Jasminka asked, shaking. 

“The Imperious Curse, or the full control curse, places the victim under the caster’s control, and the Cruciatus Curse, or the torture curse, it’s fairly self-explanatory. People have actually gone completely insane because of the torture curse, with no hope of recovering.” 

This reminded Sucy of how Marcus and Summer’s parents were tortured into insanity, making her that much more afraid. 

“But what about the war, what happened during the War for Hogwarts?” Chariot asked impatiently. 

“Well, Voldemort and his many followers took over Hogwarts, hoping that Harry would eventually fall into their trap looking for one of the Horcruxes, which he and his friends were searching and destroying. But Harry managed to sneak in and convince everyone to fight, not for him, but for themselves and Hogwarts. 

But during the battle, as you know, many people were killed, and in the process, Harry found out that he was a Horcrux, and in order for Voldemort to die, he must die by his hands. But he wasn’t dead forever, as they managed to destroy the last Horcrux and kill Voldemort, saving the wizarding world. 

And if you’re wondering how they managed to find the Horcruxes, it’s because when Harry became one, he gained the ability to speak to snakes and look into Voldemort’s mind. He could see his memories, see where he is and hear what he’s thinking. However, at first, he had a hard time keeping Voldemort out of his mind, he could see into his memories looking for a weakness. But after some mind training, he managed to reverse the effect, allowing Harry to see into Voldemort’s mind.” 

Everyone was both intrigued and oddly scared at the same time.   
  
“So, is that enough of an explanation for you?” Phoenix said looking at Chariot, 

“Yeah, but I still have one question, how did Harry survive the killing curse? You said it was unblockable.” 

Phoenix thought for a second, trying to remember what had happened, “Well, some say it’s because he had absorbed some of the Resurrection Stone’s power when he went to face Voldemort and destroy the part of Voldemort’s soul within him. As for the first time, well...it was thanks to his mother’s sacrifice. I’m not going to go into details, for the sake of Potter’s privacy.” 

“Wait, Resurrection Stone? What’s that?” Diana asked. 

“That, I can’t say. That is as far as I’ll go when it comes to talking about dark magic. I don’t want you chasing after something that could put you in serious danger. Especially the Deathly Hallows.” Phoenix went wide-eyed when he realized what he said. 

“Deathly...what?” Akko said, confused. 

“Sorry, but this is something I need to keep to myself. You...should head to your houses, I’ll let you know when it’s ok to move around the castle.” 

Phoenix made his way out of the RoR and to his office, leaving everyone confused. 

“Deathly Hallows...what are the Deathly Hallows?” Akko asked to herself, 

“Honestly, I don’t want to know, Phoenix has already told us about Voldemort and the war, I think he’s told us enough. I don’t want to force him to tell us something he isn’t comfortable telling us. He’s looking out for us to make sure we at least have a safe time here, that’s all I can ask.” 

Everyone had to agree, Phoenix answered their questions, but stopped at something that he knew would make them curious if he explained. 

“Yeah, you’re right. On top of that, he has to worry about that, Voldemort follower and from what we’ve seen, they mean business.” Akko said getting back on her feet, “We’d better get going to our houses, the other professors are probably looking for us.” 

As the group went their separate ways, they thought to themselves, who is the one who wants to continue such dark acts? They now knew they would have to train hard in order to defend themselves, and Phoenix would be there to be sure they were prepared.   
  
***Phoenix’s View***   
  
As I stepped into my classroom, I started to feel a hint of guilt, I wanted to tell them the truth, but at the same time, I wanted, no, NEEDED to protect them, I wasn’t going to let history repeat itself. 

“( _ sigh _ ) I need to get my mind off of this somehow, maybe there’s some mail on my desk, I am expecting something.” 

But when I reached my office there was only a letter, with a strange seal. It was a dark red liquid, and when I went to touch it, it was still wet, almost like it was sealed recently. 

“Hmm, wine perhaps...no, it doesn’t smell like it. Wait...how did this get in here if it was sealed recently...I would have noticed someone.” 

When I opened it, I was met with a letter written in very messy handwriting, almost as if they had written it while in a rush.   
  
Half-blood,   
  
I hope you know that catching one of my followers won’t stop me from continuing my mission, even if you try to search every student, you won’t find me. Don’t even bother with connecting the blood seal to me, it’s not mine. But I do enjoy giving a good challenge, especially riddles.   
  
Znuamn zosk oy bgraghrk, znuyk cnu ngbk oz zgqkt corr yallkx. Haz znuyk cnu coyn zu ktj oz corr lotj znk vokik znke tkkj.   
  
Good Luck, you’re going to need it.   
  
hturT uoy wohs elddiR eht yaM   
  
With Hate,    
L.R.   
  
“L.R.? Who is that, and what kind of riddle is this, it’s just a bunch of random letters...unless, the riddle...needs to be revealed. But what’s that last sentence?” 

I proceeded to write what’s in the letter, only going in a different direction. That only gave me more questions to answer, on top of the few questions I already have. Like, whose blood is on the seal? Why did this L.R. address me as ‘Half-blood’? And more importantly...how did they know I caught one of their followers, it’s only been about an hour? 

Then out of nowhere, I heard the door to my classroom open, I got up from my chair to investigate, wand at the ready.   
  
As Phoenix opened the door, he saw that it was a Slytherin girl, sort of limping through the doorway, clenching her arm and her hood up. 

He approached with caution before saying, “Can I help you?” 

But before he could get an answer, the girl collapsed, causing her hood to slip off, revealing her face. 

“Summer? Oh my god.” 

Phoenix ran to her and saw that she had a large stab wound in her arm, and it was still bleeding. Summer was out cold, she looked almost lifeless. But with quick thinking, Phoenix brought her up to his office and placed her on his desk. 

He then searched frantically through his wares to find a Wiggenweld Potion. He thankfully found one and administered it to Summer’s wounds and gently poured down her throat. After a couple of minutes, her wound was healed to an acceptable state that he could bandage it up. A bit later, she had begun to come round. 

“Summer, thank god you’re alive. What happened to you?” 

Summer took a second to take in her surroundings, 

“You...wouldn’t believe me.” Summer weakly said.

“Try me, I’ll believe anything at this point.” 

Summer was surprised by that response and tried to remember. 

“I was in the hospital wing; my brother had gone to check on the other students. But after he left someone, apparated in. Which, from what Marcus had told me, is Impossible to everyone except the Headmaster.” 

“What did they look like?” Phoenix asked, 

“It was...blurry, but I noticed she had kinda gray wavy hair, I think she had cyan eyes...but that’s all I can remember.” 

Phoenix took note of that, “Gray wavy hair and cyan eyes...are sure that’s all you remember? Did she say anything to you?” 

Summer thought as hard as she could until she remembered one detail, “She said ‘I will end your suffering, you don’t have to feel so empty, but you will also help me’ then she stabbed me with her wand.” 

That last detail left Phoenix confused, “Wait, her wand? Your wound looks like a knife wound, not a...wand...wound.” 

“That’s what I found odd too, her wand was disguised as a knife, I saw her pull out her wand from the knife when she used some sort of curse on me, I sort of blacked out after that.” 

“Hmm...that must mean she used the Imperius Curse on you, to send you here. But she didn’t expect I’d be here, she was planning on you dying from blood loss on the floor of my class. But her saying she would ‘end your suffering’, seems kinda strange she would end it, by essentially, having you die a slow painful death.” 

Summer stood up in pain, and gave a concerned look, 

“I really don’t want to think about that right now. I just need rest and I know Marcus will be looking for me.” 

“Right, I’ll bring you down to the Slytherin Common Room, need help walking?” 

“No, I...should be fine.” Summer slowly made her way to the door with Phoenix right behind her, and they managed to get to the portrait to the common room after a good 10 minutes of Phoenix carrying her. 

“You know I think I realized something, you seem to have cheered up.” 

Summer was a bit offended but knew what he meant. 

“Well, that’s mainly because Marcus and I got the OK to visit our parents.” 

Phoenix was glad to hear that news,

“Oh, well that’s good to hear, but you can’t visit your parents with you being some pale and scratched up. You best get some rest.” 

“Right, thanks, Prof. Kingston.”

  
  
***Meanwhile, at an unknown location***

  
  
“So, they’re not putting the castle on lockdown...smart, but that will make my plan that much more difficult. But at least they know that we’re a threat, and one that will stop at nothing to continue our Lord’s work. Even if some must die, even if some must suffer, sacrifices will have to be made...not that I care. Most people in this world are worthless, only the ones who fight for power will survive in this world. But one thing is clear to me…

  
  
I MUST HAVE THAT POWER!

  
  
**END OF CHAPTER**


	10. Chapter 9: Thoughts of the Future

As the group went their separate ways back to their Common Rooms, they each had their own thoughts on what the Deathly Hallows are and if Phoenix was hiding anything else from them. But most of them knew he had a reason, mainly so they wouldn’t go looking for trouble. 

“So, what class are you looking forward to the most?” Akko asked her two fellow Gryffindors, 

“Transfiguration and History of Magic seem to grab my interest the most, though I think DADA is one that may be the most needed for us.” Diana responded, 

“Transfiguration and Charms may be pretty useful, though I agree DADA is definitely a class we’ll require.” Chariot said. 

Akko gave them a smile, “I’m looking forward to all our classes, everything’s so different, so much more...magical.” 

Diana and Chariot smiled at Akko’s burst of enthusiasm. 

“Though I am curious as to how Phoenix will do as a Professor, he seemed confident when talking to other Professors and giving orders to students, though I wonder how his classes will go. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

As Lotte, Constanze, and Ross entered the Ravenclaw Common Room, they heard a banging coming from the boy’s dorm,

“What’s that sound?” Lotte asked concerned,

“Rose, no doubt trying to get into the box where I locked her manga away.” Ross said with a hint of dread in his voice, it was clear he was already done with Rose’s antics. 

“Well, I’m going to go deal with my gremlin of a sister, you better get some rest, especially before-” 

“Hey, you three!” 

Right before Ross finished speaking, a loud screech came from behind, making them jump. 

“Silver, don’t tell me you’re putting first-years in danger because of your sister.”

“No, ma'am, I’m just bringing them back to the common room.” Ross said, sounding clearly annoyed. 

The person behind them was a female Prefect, looking very angry, mainly at Ross. 

“I’m guessing you two have a history? One that isn’t good?” Constanze asked, 

“You could say that; girls this is one of the Ravenclaw Prefects, Edith Yoller, or as I call her, E Yeller.” 

“I told you, call me that again and I will hang you by your feet over a cauldron of scalding ectoplasm.” 

Ross just rolled his eyes and made his way to the boys dorm. 

“Don’t walk away from me Silver, I’m not done with you!” Edith yelled, 

“Uh...I’d be careful what you say, ma’am…” 

Edith turned to Lotte with a look of pure anger on her face, 

“What did you say first-year, don’t underestimate me, I can make you bow to me.” 

“And how do you plan to do that Ms. Yoller?” Edith stiffened when she heard the familiar voice of the Head of Ravenclaw, 

“Prof. Flitwick, I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. How was your meeting with-” 

“Hand it over.” 

“Huh?” 

“Hand over your badge, I am relinquishing your status as a Prefect, the complaints I’ve been getting make perfect sense now.” 

Edith was shocked, then again, thinking back, she shouldn’t be surprised, she did abuse her power quite often. She handed her badge to the professor, without saying a word. 

“Now, you’ll make your way to my office once the Headmistress lifts the temporary restriction on traversing the castle. We will discuss your punishment then.” Flitwick said with a disappointed tone. 

“Yes, sir.” Edith said, walking to the girl’s dorm. 

Flitwick then turned his attention to the two girls, 

“And you must be two of the girls from Luna Nova, good to see you’ve already made a few friends.” 

“Oh, yeah that’s us, we mainly met them while exploring the castle. This place is so amazing, I look forward to learning.” Lotte said with a smile on her face. 

Constanze nodded in agreement. 

“Good to hear. As you might know, I am Professor Flitwick, Charms Professor and Head of Ravenclaw House. And I apologize for any disrespect Ms. Yoller directed towards you.” 

Lotte waved it off, “Oh, there’s no need, we know she was just a bit fumed because of Ross. Speaking of which, what can you say about him?” 

“Well, I know he works hard, but his time is always taken by his trouble of a sister, I personally would have let him continue instead of holding him back, but he insisted on earning his way up.” 

This actually surprised Lotte and Constanze, when he said he was held back, they thought it was because he was lazy, but that was far from the truth. 

“I thought he wasn’t that studious.” Constanze said confused, 

“Well, he’s not really studious, but he still likes helping people, he does a bit more than the minimum school-work wise.” 

That cleared everything up, but there was still one question left, 

“And what about Rose, what do you think about her?” 

Flitwick had to take a second to think, “Well...from what I’ve seen, she really loves her brother, I sometimes think someone gave her a love potion. But I’m aware of the trouble she’s caused, almost fatally harming your friend Ms. Akko Kagari, and even more during her first year. The Headmistress was considering expelling her, but Ross made a deal with her.” 

Flitwick pulled out a pocket watch to check the time and continued talking. 

“That deal was that she would let her stay, but any damage or harm she caused would be his responsibility.” 

Lotte could only imagine what Rose had done as a first-year, but she honestly didn’t want to know. 

“Now, you should head to your dorm, I think you may need some rest.” 

“Understood Prof.” 

Lotte and Constanze said simultaneously, making their way to the girls' dorm, as Flitwick exited the common room.

Jasminka and Amanda entered the Hufflepuff Common Room, trying their best not to make any sudden sounds, until the sound of cracking caught their attention. It was an old looking hand, gray and dead, in a pretty creepy pose and twitching. 

Amanda gave off a light chuckle, “What even is this thing?” Amanda asked with a smirk on her face.

“I don’t think you should touch that, it still looks alive.” Jasminka said, looking slightly frightened by it. 

“Come on, what could a little hand possibly-” before she finished speaking the hand came down on hers, trapping it. 

She began to freak out, almost losing her balance. She grabbed the hand and tried to force it off, failing as the hand’s grip grew tighter. Jasminka ran to help her friend but an invisible force pushed her away, lifting her off her feet. Amanda wanted to scream, but she couldn’t make a sound, all she could do was panic. 

“What’s going on down there?” someone yelled from the boys dorm, “Some of us are trying to relax, no everyone can handle almost being attacked.” 

As Jasminka was recovering from being launched backwards, she realized someone was coming down the stairs. As the person came into view, she recognized their face. 

“Henry?” 

As she guessed, it was Henry Franks, who was in a purple, fuzzy onesie. 

“Why are you two making so much noise? Everyone else is trying to calm their nerves.” 

“You’re trying to calm your nerves, the rest of us are chatting, Franks!” Another student in the boys dorm said, sounding quite annoyed. “Also, can you please wear something else, you look ridiculous!” 

“This is the only thing I’ve got, the PJ’s they gave me, didn’t fit.” Henry said, grabbing his onesie. 

Amanda was already in pain from the hand crushing her hand and screamed: “Can you guys just shut up and get this thing to let go of me?!” 

Henry then noticed why the two were making noise and ran over to help Amanda. He grabbed the hand by its pressure points on its palm and back and squeezed, forcing it to release Amanda. A wave of relief flowed through both Amanda and Jasminka, 

“What the Hell is that thing? It almost broke my hand.” Amanda angrily said, gesturing to the dark red marks on her hand. 

“It’s called a Hand of Glory, usually it doesn’t move, but wizards can charm them to use them for security. The more you move, the tighter the grip, and it can only be released with special pressure points.” 

Jasminka was pretty intrigued by it, Amanda was just weirded out by it, 

“So...basically it’s a charmed, dead hand?” Amanda said, a bit fearful, 

“Basically, yeah, though it does have hidden powers, yet it doesn’t seem to use them.” Henry said, slightly disappointed. 

Jasminka looked at it remembering, when she went to help Amanda, it pushed her away with some sort of invisible force. She thought about saying something but decided not to, purely so Henry doesn’t ask for more information. 

“Anyway, you should get to bed, or at the very least keep it down. Oh, and if you have a problem with the hand, take it up with Prof. Sprout.” 

The two looked at him confused, they hadn’t met her yet, so they were kinda wondering what she’s like outside of class. 

So they chose to just relax in front of the fire, Amanda tending to her wounds and Jasminka munching on a doughnut. After a good 25 minutes, they heard the portrait to the common room open. 

“Ah, well at least my greenhouses were left untouched, but with the students on edge, thanks to this recent event, classes are going to be that much harder to teach.” 

Amanda recognized her from the Opening Ceremony, but she just thought she was the school’s gardener. The person who entered then noticed the two girls in front of the fire and gave them a confused look. 

“What are you doing out of bed, I thought everyone was...what’s wrong with your hand?” The women pointed to Amanda’s hand, sounding pretty concerned, 

“I kinda got caught by that...hand...thing, it almost crashed my hand. Whose idea was it to have that there?” 

“It’s mine, but I must have forgotten that I put it there. I really should get rid of it. Here, let me help you with that.” 

The woman gently grabbed Amanda’s hand and applied a grayish oil to the red marks, bringing down the swelling and making the red much less intense almost instantly. 

“Wow, that’s pretty sweet, I barely feel any pain.” Amanda looked at the woman and asked, “Uh, sorry, but who are you?” 

“I am Professor Sprout, Herbology teacher and Head of Hufflepuff house. And no need to introduce yourselves, I know who you two are, and to answer the question you probably have, Herbology is the study of plant life and usage of said plants. You’ll have my class for the first five years as it’s mandatory.” 

Amanda thought it sounded interesting, but she was more interested in something else. 

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to bring this to my office for the safety of you students.”

Down in the Slytherin Common Room, Sucy was reading up on poison making, she still had the interest in poisons, though she promised herself to keep her habit to a minimum, just for the first year or two. 

“Well, even though I promised to keep the poison making to a minimum, there are still a lot of potions I’d love to test, maybe even...mix, hehehe.” 

As she let out a light cackle, she heard someone coming through the door to the girls' dorm. 

“Arg, why did it have to be my good arm, classes are going to be a bit more difficult.” 

It was Summer, still bandaged up from her encounter. Sucy was definitely happy to see Summer up and about. 

“Evening Summer, how are you feeling?” 

Summer changed her attention from her wound to Sucy, smiling. 

“I’m doing great, I recently got a message saying that I can visit my parents.” 

Sucy was happy for her, but something seemed strange. 

“Really, that’s great, but are you sure it’s from the place your parents are being cared for?” 

Summer stopped to think, turns out, she only read the first part of the letter. “I’ll...get the letter.” 

She went to grab a book from her bed, pulling out a folded parchment, she handed it to Sucy and she read it aloud.

Dear Ms. Snow,

I’d like to inform you that the person in charge of your parents has given the OK for visitors.

However, all visits will be limited to 10-15 minutes and only 2 times a week. Any visits will be supervised to keep maximum safety for visitors. All visits will also only take place if the supervising physician allows the patients to leave their rooms. Lastly, all visits must be arranged in-advance and accepted by the head of the Asylum.

If you have any questions regarding these details, please don’t hesitate to ask. We look forward to hearing or seeing you soon.

Head of North Haring Way Mental Hospital

Walter Quin

After she finished reading the letter, Summer needed to process what was read to her. 

“So...I’ll have limited, supervised visitation...and my request might not even be accepted? What kind of shite is that?” 

Even Sucy was surprised, her suspicions were right, it seemed too good to be true...or at least that easy. 

“I’m sorry Summer...I know you must be taking this pretty hard.” 

“No. It’s not your fault. I’ll...just have to live with the fact that I’ll probably never get to spend a day alone with my parents.” 

Sucy felt really bad for Summer, she wanted to comfort her but knew she wasn’t the one that should. 

“You still have your brother, he’s still here for you.” 

Summer perked up a bit, “You’re right, Marcus is here for me, but I need to stop relying on him, he’s gotten hurt because of me.” 

Summer thought for a minute, pacing back and forth, until, “I got it, I’ll show him that he won’t have to worry about me anymore, I’ll show him I’ve had a change of heart. But how?” 

“Maybe you can make him something, show that you care about him too.” Sucy said almost immediately. 

“Yeah, that’ll work. Thanks, Sucy.” 

And with that, Summer went to plan out what to make. Sucy felt...happy, almost as happy as when she works on her experiments. Then she got an idea, a horrible yet wonderful idea. 

“I think I know what I’m going to try and make first.” 

And a large, creepy grin crawled across her face.

Outside in the Courtyard, a figure ran inside to avoid the incoming rain. She removed her hood and revealed her face. She was a very pretty 4th year Ravenclaw, with cherry red hair and brown eyes. 

“Ah jeez, it just had to start raining, right as I was going to visit the Greenhouses to check on the plant I planted last year.” She said, sounding very disappointed, “I guess I’ll have to wait till tomorrow.” 

But just as she was about to enter the castle halls, she was stopped by someone, 

“Wait, I...I need to talk to you.” 

She turned to find another student, but she had her hood up, hiding her face. 

“Yes, what can I do for you?” 

“Do you know, where I can find out more about...the Claiomh Solais?” She asked, 

“The...what? I don’t know what that is?” 

The student looked up and said in a very serious tone, 

“Then you’re not of any use to me or my mistress. Crucio!” 

And out of nowhere, the hooded figure wiped out their wand and casted the Cruciatus Curse. 

After a whole minute of torture, they stopped casting. 

“Wh...why?” 

“Don’t worry, you won’t remember any of this...Obliviate.” 

After erasing her memory of the encounter, the person in the hood fled, leaving behind a strange message on her arm.

  
  


Wli ampp kix xli qekmg xs fvmrk fego xli sri xvyi psvh

Up in the Head’s office, McGonagall was going through past documents, researching other methods of keeping the school secure, but she couldn’t find anything that would keep the whole school safe, there were always places out of reach. 

“There has to be something, I can’t just awaken the stone knights again, they’re for serious emergencies only, if I try multiple protective charms, no one would be allowed to leave...and Phoenix made it perfectly clear, we can’t let them know, but I still want the students to be safe.” 

It was clear that she was just about out of options. 

“I only have one option...but I’m not sure if I feel comfortable doing it.” 

That one option is to have Prefects patrol more than just the castle halls. They would also have to patrol the grounds, greenhouses and the rest of the area within the castle boundaries. They would also have to pair up to watch each other and increase the number of people patrolling. But that would take time to separate the observant from the oblivious, she would have to have the other professors help find more students to patrol. 

“I may need to have more professors patrol at night if it comes to that...well...let’s hope no one is murdered again or worse.”

**END OF CHAPTER**


	11. Chapter 10: Classes, Spirits and Crows

As time passed, rumours of what happened at Hogwarts started to spread like wildfire. Some believed it was purely coincidence, others were sure that it was planned, but most thought it was the work of someone who wanted to cause harm. 

But students would need to turn their focus to their classes as they were starting the next day. And everyone had received their timetables that morning, meaning that the LN gang found out which classes they’d be sharing. Thankfully they were able to share timetables so they’d know who’s where and when, on each day.

In each of their common rooms, the LN Gang was preparing for each of their classes, some taking more than what was needed. 

“So, seeing how classes start on Thursday, we have Flying first at 9:00, then Potions at 10:45. Both with Slytherin. And then HoM with Hufflepuff at 11:30, and ending the day with DADA with Slytherin again at 2:00.” Diana said while reading off her timetable with Akko and Chariot, who had another vial of Polyjuice at the ready, right across from her.

“It’s nice to know that we have the weekends off, gives us time to relax.” Akko said, sounding a little too laid back. 

Diana gave her a scolding look, “You better not slack off, keep in mind that Phoenix will also have ‘private lessons’ for us whenever he has time. And the grading system is different than at Luna Nova, so they may not be so forgiving.” 

Akko tensed up when she remembered that she wouldn’t have the luxury of asking her friends for help, seeing how this is new for them too. 

“Right, sorry. But how is the grading system different?” 

Chariot quickly opened her notes to find the answer, “O is for Outstanding, E is of Exceeds Expectations, A is for Acceptable, P is for Poor, D is for Dreadful, and T is for…(Snicker) Troll. (She found the idea of Troll being a grade funny)” 

Akko was understandably both confused and shocked, A wasn’t the best grade and the grading didn’t go in alphabetical order. 

“Ok, I think I got it, and I’ll try not to slack off.” 

Diana’s face changed to one of relief, she knew Akko wanted to learn more about the world’s magic, but she was allowing her habits from LN to come over with her. 

“Either way, if we help each other, we’ll be able to learn more without too many problems. And I’m sure Phoenix would be more than willing to give us some pointers if we ask.” Chariot said getting her things together. 

Akko and Diana nodded in agreement, doing the same. 

Chariot was the first of the three to leave the common room, but Diana needed to be alone with Akko for a bit first. She grabbed Akko before she could leave, Akko turned to her with a concerned look. 

“Is something wrong Diana? You don’t usually hesitate when it comes to-” 

“I need to ask you something.” 

Akko was confused at first but heard her out anyway. 

“Are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean, you wanted to be like Shiny Chariot since you were younger, but this is almost nothing like what you wanted to learn originally.” 

Akko was taken aback by what Diana said, but she quickly recovered and responded by giving her a peck on the cheek. 

“I’m sure. I know this is different, but it doesn’t matter, I’m still looking forward to learning about magic, even if it isn’t the same magic Chariot used when I was younger. You don’t have to worry about me, as long as I have you and our friends, I’m happy.” 

Diana’s eyes widened, she was awestruck by Akko’s little speech. 

“I’m…I’m glad.” Diana smiled shedding a tear of joy, she was happy she knew Akko. Akko had put her books down and hugged Diana close. 

“I don’t know what’s waiting for us in the future, but I know we can do it together. Right, Diana?” 

Diana cleared her eyes of tears and smiled, “Yes, together.” 

Once they gathered themselves they made their way out of the common room. Little did they know, someone was watching them, someone with twitching eyes. 

“Yeeeeesssss.”

In the Ravenclaw Girls Dorm, Constanze was fiddling with Stanbot, adjusting a few parts to make room for an extra memory bank. 

“Once I get your memory expanded, I should be able to add some of the plans I found in the library. Plans that might allow me to create my next big invention.” 

What she was planning...well, she was going to keep to herself. (Don’t ask me, I’m just the narrator.) 

“Although maybe I should ask what kind of tech that does exist in this world, I could mess around with and see what I can make with. After all, this world is very “medieval” tech-wise.”

Down in front of the fire, Lotte was wondering why she hadn't encountered any spirits yet, she had called out to them when no one was around but found nothing. 

“Phoenix said there should be spirits here, but none are revealing themselves.” 

But then it hit her, 

“Maybe they just need some music to let them know it’s safe to come out.” 

Lotte cleared her throat and proceeded to sing a special song that was taught to her when she was young, as she was singing, she spotted a small light coming from one of the books on the shelf, peeking its head out. It looked at Lotte and tilted its head in curiosity. It looked down at her lantern where her fire spirit stood, smiling and waving at the curious spirit. 

The book spirit looked around, seeing no one else, it called out to its friends, letting them know it’s safe to come out. One by one, spirits began popping up around the room, to Lotte’s surprise there were more spirits in the one room then she had ever seen at one time. 

“Hello there, I’m Lotte, I was wondering if there were really spirits here, glad to see there are.” 

One of the spirits floated down to Lotte’s face, it began to speak, but in a way that Lotte had never heard a spirit speak before. 

“You...you can hear us? You can see us?” 

Lotte was surprised, it spoke in clear English, usually, they would speak in a language that only those who can hear spirits can understand. 

She nodded nonetheless, “Yes, I can see and hear you. But only if you are willing to let yourself be seen.” 

Lotte brought her hand up and let the spirit sit in her hand, 

“But, why do you all seem scared? Are the people here scary to you?” 

The spirit shook its head, 

“No, it’s just that, the students here aren’t capable of seeing us, at least...not anymore. There was one student in this house who could see us, but she graduated and moved away. I guess you could say, we were lonely.” 

Lotte saw the heartbreak in their eyes, 

“What was their name?” 

“Luna. Luna Lovegood, she was someone who we could always talk to when we needed company.” 

All the spirits flew around the room until they surrounded Lotte, they looked almost, happy. 

“You’re almost like her, she was kind, understanding, and pretty.” 

Lotte blushed at that last bit but felt good knowing that they’ll feel comfortable around her.

A bit after Lotte and the spirits had chatted for a while, a familiar face had entered through the wall. It was Helena, looking quite...peeved. 

“I hate that troublesome poltergeist, when will he learn his lesson?” 

She then noticed Lotte talking to her hand; understandably confused, she approached Lotte wondering what she was talking to. The spirits saw Helena and hastily went back to their hiding places, Lotte snapped her focus to the person who scared off her new spirit friends. 

When she realized it was Helena, she calmed down enough to ask, 

“Morning Helena, why do you look so confused?” 

“Who are you talking to? I don’t see anyone else here.” 

Lotte was confused at first until she remembered the spirits saying that no else can see them unless they fully reveal themselves to everyone. 

“I was chatting with the spirits in the common room, I have the ability to talk with small spirits that have the essence of different things. They can’t be seen unless they want you to, they can be quite shy.” 

Helena looked at Lotte in disbelief, but she never thought Lotte to be the lying type. 

“Really? What essence do the spirits in this room have?” 

Lotte thought for a moment before taking a guess, 

“Books and knowledge if I had to guess, they didn’t exactly have the forms they usually take back home.”

But her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of banging, becoming louder, coming down the stairs. They soon saw a small box land on the floor, right on its side. 

“I have a feeling I know what’s in there.” Lotte said, sounding quite bitter. 

And as she guessed, down came Rose, wand in hand and looking absolutely mad. 

“Why won’t it OPEN?!” She screamed, casting more spells. 

As she casted a spell at the box, at just the right angle, it flew right through Helena, making her, not quite angry, but more peeved than she was before. But the sound of a spell passing by them caught their attention, they turned their attention to the caster and found Ross, looking like he was done with Rose’s bullshit. 

The spell he had casted was, in fact, the full body-bind curse, causing Rose to fall backwards, completely straight. 

“I can NOT take it anymore, first you nearly kill a first-year, then you attempt to destroy a Prefect’s property and now you try to break into the trunk I put your manga in by just randomly casting spells without caring who you harm, you are driving me LOOPY Rose!” 

After letting out that cathartic rant and calming down to catch his breath, he turns his attention to the two other ladies in the room. 

“Sorry you had to see that, I’ll be sure she is given the proper punishment...like I always have to.” 

He then proceeded to grab the incapacitated girl off the floor and carry her to the entrance to the common room. 

“Oh, and before I forget, you should probably check the timetable on the board over there, just so you’ll know what classes you’ll have and at what times.”

Lotte shook off what she just saw and made her way to the board on the far side of the room. 

“Let’s see, Potions with Hufflepuff at 9:00, Flying Class at 10:45, Herbology with Slytherin at 11:30 and then History of Magic with Hufflepuff. Ok, I think I understand how this works. Not to mention spending time in those Greenhouses we saw the other day might be fun.” 

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy it Lotte, I think you might find some more of those spirits you mentioned.” Helena said. 

Lotte was definitely hopeful but tried to focus on the bigger picture, which led her to wonder, “If this is what our classes are like, how is Phoenix going to arrange the private lessons?”

Down in the Slytherin common room, Sucy was looking at the first-year timetable and noticed the Potions was one of the first classes of the day, which made her all the more excited. The timetable for the day went Flying class at 9:00, then Potions at 10:45, both with Gryffindor, Herbology with Ravenclaw at 11:30 and ending with DADA with Gryffindor. 

“Hmm, Herbology, eh? I wonder if I can find some new types of fungi in that class.” Sucy was always interested in mushrooms, sometimes too interested. 

But her thoughts would be interrupted by the sound of someone laughing like a hyena. 

“Oh, how humorous this is. The fact that old hat put me in here is just...well, Hilarious to me. What was it thinking, AH HA.” 

It was Gilbert Nicholson, acting like a psycho, screaming nonsense. 

“You seem to be lively.” Sucy said, “But I think you should calm down a bit, you might wake the dead with your cackling.” 

Gilbert just stared and grinned, “They might as well, for they will have new guests when I bring back the greatest wizard in the world.” 

Sucy flinched at what he said, “Who are you talking about?” 

“I’m talking about the greatest wizard to ever live, the one to beat them all, the king of magic!” Gilbert’s face was inches from Sucy’s, making her very uncomfortable. “Gilderoy Lockhart.” 

Sucy looked at him in confusion, “Uh...who?” 

But before she could get her answer, Gilbert was pulled back, by Marcus. 

“Nicholson! How many times must I find you inches away from another student’s face before you learn?” 

Marcus was clearly having a hard time with him, to the point that he was fed up with him. 

“Ah come on, can’t a guy have some fun.” Gilbert said, sounding different, “I just want to play some jokes, maybe creep some people out, that way they won’t bother me.” 

Marcus just sighed, “You need to stop with the act Gilbert. People are going to think you’re planning to kill them.” 

Gilbert just chuckled, “Hey, I may act creepy, but I’m no killer, not like that freak who got killed during the battle for Hogwarts.” 

Marcus had just given up on convincing Gilbert, so he just let him go with one last warning. 

“Just don’t let it happen again, Slughorn isn’t going to let you continue freaking people out after that event yesterday.” 

Gilbert got back onto his feet and walked out without another word, clearly peeved. 

Marcus turned his attention to Sucy who had her gaze fixed on the Timetable. 

“I see you’re already interested in the classes, any you think you might be looking to major in?” 

“Poisons” Sucy blurted out, “I-I mean Potions, I’m thinking of majoring in Potions.” Sucy quickly corrected herself hoping she didn’t trigger any “red flags” for Marcus. 

He was slightly confused but shook it off as just a little mix-up. 

“I see, I’m guessing you had an affinity for Potion making at your old school?” 

“Something like that.” 

Sucy then looked at the classes for Friday and noticed there weren’t any; confused, she looked at the other year’s timetables and saw that they all had classes on Fridays. 

“Hey, any reason why we don’t have classes on Fridays?” Sucy asked Marcus, pointing at the blank parts of the First-year timetable. 

“That’s mainly because First-year students have the privilege of an extra day off each week to get accustomed to the classwork.” 

He continued to explain that after McGonagall became Head of Hogwarts, she gave the first-year students Fridays off to allow for more time for classwork and to get accustomed to the castle’s layout should they wish to explore. 

“Hmm, I should take advantage of that, maybe I could use that time to experiment with some potions. But I should try to find someplace not even Phoenix knows about.” Sucy thought to herself. 

Suddenly the sound of papers scattering caught Sucy’s and Marcus’ attention, they turned toward the sound and found a girl, about the same age as Sucy, wearing foggy glasses and seemed quite shaken. 

“Oh...th-this isn’t good. I need these d-documents sent to the m-ministry ASAP, they need to k-know about…” 

Her stuttering was stopped when both Sucy and Marcus handed her the papers they had gone beyond her reach. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost Sabrina, what’s on your mind?” Marcus asked. 

“W-well, I came across a student out by the courtyard, a 4th year Ravenclaw. She was passed out and had a message carved into her arm. It didn’t make sense at first but after doing some research, I managed to decode it.” 

Sucy was completely lost, “Wait, decode? What did it say?” 

“Well, while attempting to decode it, I found out that they used some sort of method, by moving letters forward or backwards in the alphabet.” Sabrina said, showing Sucy the notes she made. In bold letters, the message said

“She will get the magic to bring back the one true lord” 

Sucy’s eyes widened, “Magic, what magic is it referring to? And what do they mean by...one true lord?” 

“Man this school’s timetable is way more manageable than at LN, We get almost all afternoon off, and the classes, from what Phoenix has told us, maybe more interesting,” Amanda said to herself as she read the timetable, she was planning on lounging around until classes started, she didn’t have plans and she knew if she left Jasminka alone she’d be bound to break and pass out from hunger. 

“Well, what do we have here?” 

Amanda jumped when a voice came from behind her, she turned around to see a woman, a bit on the pudgy side and had a smirk on her face. 

“A first year that’s interested in the timetable so much that she can’t even bother putting on her uniform when out and about. And I thought someone from a more elegant magic school would have standards.” 

Amanda gave her a look of slight disbelief, but then noticed something that would be perfect comeback material. She grabbed her wand from her side pocket (Don’t ask how), and used a bit of subtle magic to undo the button on her robe, revealing a plethora of what appeared to be sauce stains on her shirt. 

“Standards you say? Says the girl who looks like she’s killed a tomato or two.” 

The girl was surprised that Amanda noticed it but she let out a sigh of defeat, 

“They were right, you don’t miss a thing, but that’s what I like about you. You have an eye for detail, even if it’s not for something constructive or creative.” 

Amanda put her wand away and just smiled, 

“So, I’m guessing that was all just an act?” 

The girl nodded, “Yep. I’m Arlene by the way, Arlene Guinevere, I’m a 6th year and a Prefect for Hufflepuff.” Arlene said, hand out as if waiting for a handshake. 

Amanda returned it without hesitation, 

“Nice to meet you, Arlene, I’m guessing you already know who I am.” 

“Kind of, I know that your name is Amanda and you were a bit of a delinquent back at your old school, at least from what I’ve heard.” 

Amanda wasn’t exactly pleased that her reputation as a troublemaker had followed her to Hogwarts, but she was still going to make the most of it.

She then turned her attention to the sound of soft chirping coming from Arlene’s robe pocket, Arlene slowly reached in and pulled out a small baby crow, 

“I found this little creature near the entrance, probably fell out of its nest. Not sure what gender it is, but I just call it, Noir, you know, cause crow.” 

Amanda was slightly confused but smiled at the little bird. 

“I’m guessing you’re nursing the little guy?” Amanda said, giving the crow’s head a gentle pat. 

“Kind of, just until Noir’s old enough to fly. It’ll take a while, but I’m determined.” Arlene said, sounding very confident. 

Amanda then turned her attention to an owl that had flown in from an open window, letter in hand. As it landed on a perch near the doorway, Amanda and Arlene took a closer look at the letter in the owl’s grasp. 

“It says it’s for Jasminka...but who sent it?” Amanda said. 

“Who sent what?” 

Both turned their heads to face the source of the voice to find Jasminka, looking quite tired, almost to the point that she might pass out while standing. 

“A letter came in for you Jasminka…” Arlene said, “Were you expecting something by chance?” 

Jasminka looked at the letter the owl was holding and just tilted her head in both confusion and curiosity. 

“I don’t think I was...but then again, I may have forgotten thanks to my hunger.” 

She took the letter and opened it, only to find a single piece of parchment with the word “BOO” written in big red letters. 

“Huh?” Jasminka said, sounding even more confused. 

But her confusion would turn to fear as from behind her came a loud, 

“BOO!” 

Jasminka, Amanda and Arlene jumped and screamed as they fell to their knees in fear. 

“Ha Ha Ha, that was almost too easy, you first years are such easy targets for a good scare.” 

They looked up to find a poltergeist with blue skin, wearing a red suit and a large, creepy grin on his face. 

“Damn it Peeves, you could have given us a heart attack!” Arlene said getting back on her feet. 

“I thought you were tougher than that Guinie, what happened to the fearless attitude from 3 years ago?” Peeves taunted. 

“Ah, piss off you stupid ghost, go annoy someone else.” 

Peeves just laughed and phased through the wall of the common room, leaving remnants of ectoplasm. Arlene brought her attention to Amanda and Jasminka, who were clearly scared half to death. 

“Who...Who the Hell was That?!” Amanda screamed, pale in the face. 

“That’s Peeves, He’s supposed to be the Ghost of Hogwarts, but all he does is cause trouble, mainly playing pranks on students, especially first-years.” 

After Amanda and Jasminka recovered from the shock, they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. They saw the others there except Sucy, who they thought was probably somewhere else for her own reasons. Lotte was talking to her fire spirit, who made a lot of the people sitting near her confused as they couldn’t see it, Constanze was reading up on how muggle technology has been brought into the world of wizardry, Chariot was back to her younger self, and Akko and Diana were just enjoying their breakfast, with Akko trying to be less of a slob. 

“Well, it’s nice to know that they feed us here, can’t imagine how LN could do that with how much it’s budget has gone down, eh Jasminka?” Amanda said, turning to look at her friend, only to find an empty space where she once stood. 

Amanda looked around confused, “Wha...where did she go?” 

Arlene looked toward the large stack of waffles and sausages and somehow knew the answer. 

“There she is...with more food than any one person could handle.” She said, pointing at the tower of food. 

Amanda looked at where Arlene was pointing and just sighed, 

“Of course, that girl will do anything to fill her gut, but that’s just who she is, nothing can change that,” Amanda said smiling. 

The two walked toward the Hufflepuff table and joined their gluttonous friend.

Up in Phoenix’s office, Phoenix was working on his class lessons, he was relatively new to teaching and wanted to get it right. 

“This is actually harder than I originally thought, teaching the LN girls was fairly easy, but now I have to teach a whole class.” 

But his thoughts would be interrupted by the sound of loud footsteps, 

“Phoenix!” 

He heard his name being called, but by who, he thought? He would get his answer when Sucy came bursting through the door, very much out of breath. 

“Sucy? What’s wrong? Something happened?” Phoenix asked, sounding worried. 

“I...I heard about a student that was attacked and had a message cut into her arm.” 

Phoenix was aware of the student being attacked but wasn’t told she had a message on her arm. 

“What did it say?” 

Sucy took a moment before answering. 

“It was in some kind of code, it said ‘She will get the magic to bring back the one true lord.’” 

Phoenix was shocked, another lead toward who was behind all of this. 

“How was the message decoded?” Phoenix frantically asked, 

“I don’t know, they said the letters used were forwards or backwards or something.” 

Phoenix then had a realization, the answer to the puzzle. 

“Forwards or Backwards...that’s it.” 

He ran and grabbed the letter he had received and wrote the message down only bringing the letters backwards to make actual words. After a couple of minutes, he cracked it, and the message read:

“Though time is valuable, those who have it taken will suffer. But those who wish to end it will find the piece they need.”

Phoenix was left in both shock and confusion, 

“What do they mean? Those who take time will suffer, and those who wish to end it will find the piece they…” 

He stopped and thought about it further until he put it all together. 

“Time...as in the span of someone’s life, and ending it...ending it...they mean, ending the cycle of time being taken...Oh My God.” 

Phoenix looked at Sucy, wide-eyed, 

“Get the others, I think I’ve figured it out.” 

Sucy ran out of the classroom and toward the Great Hall, looking even more worried than she was before.

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor Common Room

A cloaked stranger had apparated in and walked toward the fireplace, wand in hand. They threw in a hand-full of floo powder and got down on their knees. 

“My lady, I have infiltrated the school, what are my next instructions?” 

“You must wear the robes and blend in, once you find him, search for the artifact, he must have it somewhere.” 

“Understood my lady, I will not fail you.” 

The floo connection cut and the stranger returned to their feet. They removed their cloak and put on the robes they were given, giving them the appearance of a second-year. 

“Hello?” 

They turned toward the door to the common room, to find another second-year. 

“Oh, hello there, who are you?” 

They cleared their throat and said, 

“I’m Ember, Ember Rulie.”

END OF CHAPTER


End file.
